arXiv subjects

Remy Dassonneville

Publications and source records attributed to Remy Dassonneville.

7 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Electron paramagnetic resonance of Dy${^3+}$-doped CaWO$_4$: spin Hamiltonian, crystal-field analysis, and linear electric field effect

We report an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) study of Dy${^3+}$ in CaWO$_4$ single crystals spanning dopant concentrations from 80~ppb to 247~ppm. The $g$ factors of the ground Kramers doublet at the $S_4$ point-group site, $g_\parallel = 7.22 \pm 0.01$ and $g_\perp = 5.45 \pm 0.01$, and the hyperfine constants of \ce{^{161}Dy} and $^{163}$Dy are determined with an order-of-magnitude improvement in precision over the only previous report. A crystal-field analysis constrained jointly by published optical levels and by the measured $g$ tensor identifies the ground doublet as the lower branch of an anticrossing between the near-degenerate $\|{\pm}11/2>$ and $\|{\mp}13/2>$ states, and explains why optical data alone left the $g$ values unconstrained. \add{The same parameter set, tested on the excited multiplets of the $^6H$ term, reproduces the ${}^6H_{13/2}$ crystal-field levels better than the optical parameters themselves.} The angular dependence of the linewidth in the $ab$ plane reveals broadening by random internal electric fields through the linear electric field effect. Calibrating these fields with the residual Er$^{3+}$ present in the same crystals yields the first electric-field coupling parameters of Dy$^3+$, $(B_{31}^2+B_{36}^2)^{1/2} = (34\pm5)\times10^{-6}$~cm/V, three times the Er$^{3+}$ value and the largest reported for a rare-earth ion in this host.The residual linewidth and the concentration-dependent lineshape asymmetry follow the quadratic field scaling expected for a second-order Stark shift, which escapes the inversion-site cancellation constraining the linear effect. Both couplings trace back to the $\sim 20$~cm$^{-1}$ gap to the first opposite-symmetry doublet, a consequence of the dense crystal-field structure of the $J=15/2$ manifold.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2026

Strongly anisotropic non-Kramers electron spin as a quantum coherence probe of angular fluctuations

Strongly anisotropic non-Kramers rare-earth ions combine giant longitudinal g-factors with a vanishing transverse component imposed by time-reversal symmetry, a combination that makes their spin transitions exquisitely sensitive to the orientation of the applied magnetic field. We show that this sensitivity carries a dual identity: it is simultaneously an overlooked decoherence channel and the basis for a spin-coherence-based angular probe. Using pulsed electron paramagnetic resonance at X-band, we report the first measurements of the quantum coherence of Tb$^{3+}$ in a native-doped CaWO$_4$ crystal (15 ppb) and map the Hahn-echo coherence time $T_2$ as a function of temperature (2 to 10 K) and resonant field ($10^3$ to $10^4$ G). A parameter-free model combining spin-lattice relaxation, instantaneous diffusion and spectral diffusion from all independently quantified impurities overestimates $T_2$ by an order of magnitude at low temperature and wrongly predicts the field dependence of $T_2$, inconsistent with the observed monotonic decrease of $T_2$ with $B_r$. A two-parameter extension, including dynamical angular fluctuations of the crystal axis, reproduces the full dataset across multiple setups and laboratories. Two controlled experiments nominally identical except for different mechanical configuration of the setup establish the mechanical origin of the dominant contribution. The two-parameter extension corresponds to an angular amplitude noise spectral density of overall order 36 n°/$\sqrt{Hz}$ from global external vibrations (ranging from 10 to 66 n°/$\sqrt{Hz}$ depending on the exact setup mechanical configuration) estimated at $\sim$ 2.5 kHz plus a temperature-dependent contribution assumed to come from local phonon-driven angular jitter. It identifies and highlights a decoherence pathway of practical relevance to any anisotropic solid-state spin system.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Observation of quantum many-body effects due to zero point fluctuations in superconducting circuits

Electromagnetic fields possess zero point fluctuations (ZPF) which lead to observable effects such as the Lamb shift and the Casimir effect. In the traditional quantum optics domain, these corrections remain perturbative due to the smallness of the fine structure constant. To provide a direct observation of non-perturbative effects driven by ZPF in an open quantum system we wire a highly non-linear Josephson junction to a high impedance transmission line, allowing large phase fluctuations across the junction. Consequently, the resonance of the former acquires a relative frequency shift that is orders of magnitude larger than for natural atoms. Detailed modelling confirms that this renormalization is non-linear and quantum. Remarkably, the junction transfers its non-linearity to about 30 environmental modes, a striking back-action effect that transcends the standard Caldeira-Leggett paradigm. This work opens many exciting prospects for longstanding quests such as the tailoring of many-body Hamiltonians in the strongly non-linear regime, the observation of Bloch oscillations, or the development of high-impedance qubits.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

A photonic crystal Josephson traveling wave parametric amplifier

An amplifier combining noise performances as close as possible to the quantum limit with large bandwidth and high saturation power is highly desirable for many solid state quantum technologies such as high fidelity qubit readout or high sensitivity electron spin resonance for example. Here we introduce a new Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier based on Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices. It displays a 3 GHz bandwidth, a -102 dBm 1-dB compression point and added noise near the quantum limit. Compared to previous state-of-the-art, it is an order of magnitude more compact, its characteristic impedance is in-situ tunable and its fabrication process requires only two lithography steps. The key is the engineering of a gap in the dispersion relation of the transmission line. This is obtained using a periodic modulation of the SQUID size, similarly to what is done with photonic crystals. Moreover, we provide a new theoretical treatment to describe the non-trivial interplay between non-linearity and such periodicity. Our approach provides a path to co-integration with other quantum devices such as qubits given the low footprint and easy fabrication of our amplifier.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Fabrication and characterization of aluminum SQUID transmission lines

We report on the fabrication and characterization of 50 Ohms, flux-tunable, low-loss, SQUID-based transmission lines. The fabrication process relies on the deposition of a thin dielectric layer (few tens of nanometers) via Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) on top of a SQUID array, the whole structure is then covered by a non-superconducting metallic top ground plane. We present experimental results from five different samples. We systematically characterize their microscopic parameters by measuring the propagating phase in these structures. We also investigate losses and discriminate conductor from dielectric losses. This fabrication method offers several advantages. First, the SQUID array fabrication does not rely on a Niobium tri-layer process but on a simpler double angle evaporation technique. Second, ALD provides high quality dielectric leading to low-loss devices. Further, the SQUID array fabrication is based on a standard, all-aluminum process, allowing direct integration with superconducting qubits. Moreover, our devices are in-situ flux tunable, allowing mitigation of incertitude inherent to any fabrication process. Finally, the unit cell being a single SQUID (no extra ground capacitance is needed), it is straightforward to modulate the size of the unit cell periodically, allowing band-engineering. This fabrication process can be directly applied to traveling wave parametric amplifiers.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

A tunable Josephson platform to explore many-body quantum optics in circuit-QED

Coupling an isolated emitter to a single mode of the electromagnetic field is now routinely achieved and well understood. Current efforts aim to explore the coherent dynamics of emitters coupled to several electromagnetic modes (EM). freedom. Recently, ultrastrong coupling to a transmission line has been achieved where the emitter resonance broadens to a significant fraction of its frequency. In this work we gain significantly improved control over this regime. We do so by combining the simplicity of a transmon qubit and a bespoke EM environment with a high density of discrete modes, hosted inside a superconducting metamaterial. This produces a unique device in which the hybridisation between the qubit and up to 10 environmental modes can be monitored directly. Moreover the frequency and broadening of the qubit resonance can be tuned independently of each other in situ. We experimentally demonstrate that our device combines this tunability with ultrastrong coupling and a qubit nonlinearity comparable to the other relevant energy scales in the system. We also develop a quantitative theoretical description that does not contain any phenomenological parameters and that accurately takes into account vacuum fluctuations of our large scale quantum circuit in the regime of ultrastrong coupling and intermediate non-linearity. The demonstration of this new platform combined with a quantitative modelling brings closer the prospect of experimentally studying many-body effects in quantum optics. A limitation of the current device is the intermediate nonlinearity of the qubit. Pushing it further will induce fully developed many-body effects, such as a giant Lamb shift or nonclassical states of multimode optical fields. Observing such effects would establish interesting links between quantum optics and the physics of quantum impurities.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Understanding the saturation power of Josephson Parametric Amplifiers made from SQUIDs arrays

We report on the implementation and detailed modelling of a Josephson Parametric Amplifier (JPA) made from an array of eighty Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs), forming a non-linear quarter-wave resonator. This device was fabricated using a very simple single step fabrication process. It shows a large bandwidth (45 MHz), an operating frequency tunable between 5.9 GHz and 6.8 GHz and a large input saturation power (-117 dBm) when biased to obtain 20 dB of gain. Despite the length of the SQUID array being comparable to the wavelength, we present a model based on an effective non-linear LC series resonator that quantitatively describes these figures of merit without fitting parameters. Our work illustrates the advantage of using array-based JPA since a single-SQUID device showing the same bandwidth and resonant frequency would display a saturation power 15 dB lower.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗