arXiv subjects

Ryan Kaufman

Publications and source records attributed to Ryan Kaufman.

8 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Exceeding the Parametric Drive Strength Threshold in Nonlinear Circuits

Superconducting quantum circuits rely on strong drives to implement fast gates, high-fidelity readout, and state stabilization. However, these drives can induce uncontrolled excitations, so-called "ionization", that compromise the fidelity of these operations. While now well-characterized in the context of qubit readout, it remains unclear how general this limitation is across the more general setting of parametric control. Here, we demonstrate that a nonlinear coupler, exemplified by a transmon, undergoes ionization under strong parametric driving, leading to a breakdown of coherent control and thereby limiting the accessible gate speeds. Through experiments and numerical simulations, we associate this behavior with the emergence of drive-induced chaotic dynamics, which we characterize quantitatively using the instantaneous Floquet spectrum. Our results reveal that the Floquet spectrum provides a unifying framework for understanding strong-drive limitations across a wide range of operations on superconducting quantum circuits. This insight establishes fundamental constraints on parametric control and offers design principles for mitigating drive-induced decoherence in next-generation quantum processors.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Simple, High Saturation Power, Quantum-limited, RF SQUID Array-based Josephson Parametric Amplifiers

High-fidelity quantum non-demolition qubit measurement is critical to error correction and rapid qubit feedback in large-scale quantum computing. High-fidelity readout requires passing a short and strong pulse through the qubit's readout resonator, which is then processed by a sufficiently high bandwidth, high saturation power, and quantum-limited amplifier. We have developed a design pipeline that combines time-domain simulation of the un-truncated device Hamiltonian, fabrication constraints, and maximization of saturation power. We have realized an amplifier based on a modified NIST tri-layer Nb fabrication suite which utilizes an array of 25 radio frequency Superconducting QUantum Interference Devices (rf SQUIDs) embedded within a low-Q resonator powered by a high-power voltage pump delivered via a diplexer on the signal port. We show that, despite the intensity of the pump, the device is quantum-efficient and capable of high-fidelity measurement limited by state transitions in the transmon. We present experimental data demonstrating up to -91.2 dBm input saturation power with 20 dB gain, up to 28 MHz instantaneous bandwidth, and phase-preserving qubit measurements with 62% quantum efficiency.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Pump-efficient Josephson parametric amplifiers with high saturation power

Circuit QED based quantum information processing relies on low noise amplification for signal readout. In the realm of microwave superconducting circuits, this amplification is often achieved via Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPA). In the past, these amplifiers exhibited low power added efficiency (PAE), which is roughly the fraction of pump power that is converted to output signal power. This is increasingly relevant because recent attempts to build high saturation power amplifiers achieve this at the cost of very low PAE, which in turn puts a high heat load on the cryostat and limits the number of these devices that a dilution refrigerator can host. Here, we numerically investigate upper bounds on PAE. We focus on a class of parametric amplifiers that consists of a capacitor shunted by a nonlinear inductive block. We first set a benchmark for this class of amplifiers by considering nonlinear blocks described by an arbitrary polynomial current-phase relation. Next, we propose two circuit implementations of the nonlinear block. Finally, we investigate chaining polynomial amplifiers. We find that while amplifiers with higher gain have a lower PAE, regardless of the gain there is considerable room to improve as compared to state of the art devices. For example, for a phase-sensitive amplifier with a power gain of 20 dB, the PAE is ~0.1% for typical JPAs, 5.9% for our simpler circuit JPAs, 34% for our more complex circuit JPAs, 48% for our arbitrary polynomial amplifiers, and at least 95% for our chained amplifiers.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Practical Trainable Temporal Postprocessor for Multistate Quantum Measurement

We develop and demonstrate a trainable temporal post-processor (TPP) harnessing a simple but versatile machine learning algorithm to provide optimal processing of quantum measurement data subject to arbitrary noise processes, for the readout of an arbitrary number of quantum states. We demonstrate the TPP on the essential task of qubit state readout, which has historically relied on temporal processing via matched filters in spite of their applicability only for specific noise conditions. Our results show that the TPP can reliably outperform standard filtering approaches under complex readout conditions, such as high power readout. Using simulations of quantum measurement noise sources, we show that this advantage relies on the TPP's ability to learn optimal linear filters that account for general quantum noise correlations in data, such as those due to quantum jumps, or correlated noise added by a phase-preserving quantum amplifier. Furthermore, we derive an exact analytic form for the optimal TPP weights: this positions the TPP as a linearly-scaling generalization of matched filtering, valid for an arbitrary number of states under the most general readout noise conditions, all while preserving a training complexity that is essentially negligible in comparison to that of training neural networks for processing temporal quantum measurement data. The TPP can be autonomously and reliably trained on measurement data and requires only linear operations, making it ideal for FPGA implementations in cQED for real-time processing of measurement data from general quantum systems.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Josephson parametric amplifier with Chebyshev gain profile and high saturation

We demonstrate a Josephson parametric amplifier design with a band-pass impedance matching network based on a third-order Chebyshev prototype. We measured eight amplifiers operating at 4.6 GHz that exhibit gains of 20 dB with less than 1 dB gain ripple and up to 500 MHz bandwidth. The amplifiers further achieve high output saturation powers around -73 dBm based on the use of rf-SQUID arrays as their nonlinear element. We characterize the system readout efficiency and its signal-to-noise ratio near saturation using a Sycamore processor, finding the data consistent with near quantum limited noise performance of the amplifiers. In addition, we measure the amplifiers' intermodulation distortion in two-tone experiments as a function of input power and inter-tone detuning, and observe excess distortion at small detuning with a pronounced dip as a function of signal power, which we interpret in terms of power-dependent dielectric losses.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2023

Parametric Amplifier Matching Using Legendre Prototypes

In this note we describe Josephson parametric amplifier (JPA) matching networks based on Legendre polynomials. These networks typically exhibit lower ripple and gentler roll-off than Chebyshev networks with similar parameters, and can be viewed as bridging the gap between Butterworth and Chebyshev ones. We tabulate prototype coefficients for parametric amplifiers based on Legendre polynomials with a range of gain and ripple parameters, and for a range of network orders. We also use this opportunity to further illustrate the synthesis of these networks based on methods from previous work, and synthesize a prototype JPA with 20dB gain at a center frequency of 5GHz with a bandwidth of 500MHz.

physics.app-ph↗

arXiv2021

Realizing all-to-all couplings among detachable quantum modules using a microwave quantum state router

One of the primary challenges in realizing large-scale quantum processors is the realization of qubit couplings that balance interaction strength, connectivity, and mode confinement. Moreover, it is very desirable for the device elements to be detachable, allowing components to be built, tested, and replaced independently. In this work, we present a microwave quantum state router, centered on parametrically driven, Josephson-junction based three-wave mixing, that realizes all-to-all couplings among four detachable quantum modules. We demonstrate coherent exchange among all four communication modes, with an average full-iSWAP time of 764ns and average inferred inter-module exchange fidelity of 0.969, limited by mode coherence. We also demonstrate photon transfer and pairwise entanglement between module qubits, and parallel operation of simultaneous iSWAP exchange across the router. Our router-module architecture serves as a prototype of modular quantum computer that has great potential for enabling flexible, demountable, large-scale quantum networks of superconducting qubits and cavities.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2020

Scaling laws for partially developed turbulence

We formulate multifractal models for velocity differences and gradients which describe the full range of length scales in turbulent flow, namely: laminar, dissipation, inertial, and stirring ranges. The models subsume existing models of inertial range turbulence. In the localized ranges of length scales in which the turbulence is only partially developed, we propose multifractal scaling laws with scaling exponents modified from their inertial range values. In local regions, even within a fully developed turbulent flow, the turbulence is not isotropic nor scale invariant due to the influence of larger turbulent structures (or their absence). For this reason, turbulence that is not fully developed is an important issue which inertial range study can not address. In the ranges of partially developed turbulence, the flow can be far from universal, so that standard inertial range turbulence scaling models become inapplicable. The model proposed here serves as a replacement.Details of the fitting of the parameters for the $τ_p$ and $ζ_p$ models in the dissipation range are discussed. Some of the behavior of $ζ_p$ for larger $p$ is unexplained. The theories are verified by comparing to high resolution simulation data.

physics.flu-dyn↗