arXiv subjects

S. A. Lyon

Publications and source records attributed to S. A. Lyon.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Selective Shuttling of Electrons on Helium Using a CMOS Control Platform

Electrons bound to the surface of liquid helium are an emerging quantum computing platform, offering the potential for highly mobile spin qubits that can be manipulated using CMOS-fabricated devices. Here, as a step toward realizing this technology, we demonstrate selective two-dimensional shuttling of electrons across a helium film condensed on the surface of a CMOS control chip. The electrons are moved in packets containing, on average, several tens down to single electrons. We perform CCD-style electron shuttling in any of 128 transport microchannels, each of which links electron storage zones and sensing zones in the 2D plane. Shuttling sequences can be repeated at least 10$^9$ times with no detectable electron loss. The device serves as a prototype quantum information processing platform that is readily scalable to control large monolithically integrated arrays of single electron spins.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2025

Strong coupling of a microwave photon to an electron on helium

Electrons bound to the surface of superfluid helium have been proposed for scalable charge and spin-based quantum computing. However single electron quantum measurement in this system has remained elusive. Here we use a hybrid circuit quantum electrodynamic (cQED) device that comprises a quantum dot and a high-impedance superconducting resonator to demonstrate, for the first time, strong coupling between the resonator microwave field and the motional quantum state of the electron. We find a coupling strength between the electron motion and a resonator photon of $g/2π=118$ MHz, exceeding both the electron motional state decoherence and the resonator loss. These experiments open new avenues for investigating light-matter interaction at the single electron level, and are a key step towards measurement and control of electrons on helium-based spin qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2025

High-impedance resonators for strong coupling to an electron on helium

The in-plane motion of an electron on helium can couple to superconducting microwave resonators via electrical dipole coupling, offering a robust and rapid readout scheme. In previous efforts, microwave resonator designs for electrons on helium have lacked the coupling strength to reach the strong coupling regime, where coherent quantum effects outlast both electron and resonator decoherence rates. High-impedance superconducting microwave resonators offer a path to strong coupling, but integrating such resonators with electrons on helium remains an outstanding challenge. Here, we introduce a high-impedance resonator design compatible with strong coupling to electrons on helium. We fabricate and measure titanium nitride resonators with median internal quality factors of $3.9\times 10^5$ and average impedance of 2.5 k$Ω$, promising a seven-fold increase in coupling strength compared with standard 50$Ω$ resonators. Additionally, we develop a simplified resonator model from the capacitance matrix and sheet inductance that accurately predicts the mode frequencies, significantly simplifying the design process of future resonators for investigating quantum effects with electrons on helium.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Sensing and Control of Single Trapped Electrons Above 1 Kelvin

Electrons trapped on the surface of cryogenic substrates (liquid helium, solid neon or hydrogen) are an emerging platform for quantum information processing made attractive by the inherent purity of the electron environment, the scalability of trapping devices and the predicted long lifetime of electron spin states. Here we demonstrate the spatial control and detection of single electrons above the surface of liquid helium at temperatures above 1 K. A superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator is used to read out the charge state of an electron trap defined by gate electrodes beneath the helium surface. Dispersive frequency shifts are observed as the trap is loaded with electrons, from several tens down to single electrons. These frequency shifts are in good agreement with our theoretical model that treats each electron as a classical oscillator coupled to the cavity field. This sensitive charge readout scheme can aid efforts to develop large-scale quantum processors that require the high cooling powers available in cryostats operating above 1 K.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2024

Factors influencing quantum evaporation of helium from polar semiconductors from first principles

While there is much indirect evidence for the existence of dark matter (DM), to date it has evaded detection. Current efforts focus on DM masses over $\sim$GeV -- to push the sensitivity of DM searches to lower masses, new DM targets and detection schemes are needed. In this work, we focus on the latter - a novel detection scheme recently proposed to detect ~10-100 meV phonons in polar target materials. Previous work showed that well-motivated models of DM can interact with polar semiconductors to produce an athermal population of phonons. This new sensing scheme proposes that these phonons then facilitate quantum evaporation of $^3$He from a van der Waals film deposited on the target material. However, a fundamental understanding of the underlying process is still unclear, with several uncertainties related to the precise rate of evaporation and how it can be controlled. In this work, we use \textit{ab initio} density functional theory (DFT) calculations to compare the adsorption energies of helium atoms on a polar target material, sodium iodide (NaI), to understand the underlying evaporation physics. We explore the role of surface termination, monolayer coverage and elemental species on the rate of He evaporation from the target material. Using this, we discuss the optimal target features for He-evaporation experiments and their range of tunability through chemical and physical modifications such as applied field and surface termination.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

A Hermetic On-Cryostat Helium Source for Low Temperature Experiments

We describe a helium source cell for use in cryogenic experiments that is hermetically sealed $in$ $situ$ on the cold plate of a cryostat. The source cell is filled with helium gas at room temperature and subsequently sealed using a cold weld crimping tool before the cryostat is closed and cooled down. At low temperature the helium condenses and collects in a connected experimental volume, as monitored via the frequency response of a planar superconducting resonator device sensitive to small amounts of liquid helium. This on-cryostat helium source negates the use of a filling tube between the cryogenic volumes and room temperature, thereby preventing unwanted effects such as such as temperature instabilities that arise from the thermomechanical motion of helium within the system. This helium source can be used in experiments investigating the properties of quantum fluids or to better thermalize quantum devices.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2023

Snowmass2021 Cosmic Frontier: The landscape of low-threshold dark matter direct detection in the next decade

The search for particle-like dark matter with meV-to-GeV masses has developed rapidly in the past few years. We summarize the science case for these searches, the recent progress, and the exciting upcoming opportunities. Funding for Research and Development and a portfolio of small dark matter projects will allow the community to capitalize on the substantial recent advances in theory and experiment and probe vast regions of unexplored dark-matter parameter space in the coming decade.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2023

Single Phonon Detection for Dark Matter via Quantum Evaporation and Sensing of $^3$Helium

Dark matter is five times more abundant than ordinary visible matter in our Universe. While laboratory searches hunting for dark matter have traditionally focused on the electroweak scale, theories of low mass hidden sectors motivate new detection techniques. Extending these searches to lower mass ranges, well below 1 GeV/c$^2$, poses new challenges as rare interactions with standard model matter transfer progressively less energy to electrons and nuclei in detectors. Here, we propose an approach based on phonon-assisted quantum evaporation combined with quantum sensors for detection of desorption events via tracking of spin coherence. The intent of our proposed dark matter sensors is to extend the parameter space to energy transfers in rare interactions to as low as a few meV for detection of dark matter particles in the keV/c$^2$ mass range.

hep-ex↗

arXiv2022

Spin dynamics in quantum dots on liquid helium

Liquid He-4 is free from magnetic defects, making it an ideal substrate for electrons with long-lived spin states. Such states can serve as qubit states. Here we consider the spin states of electrons electrostatically localized in quantum dots on a helium surface. Efficient gate operations in this system require spin-orbit coupling. It can be created by a nonuniform magnetic field from a current-carrying wire, can be turned on and off, and allows one to obtain large electro-dipole moment and comparatively fast coupling of spins in neighboring dots. Of central importance is to understand the spin decay due to the spin-orbit coupling. We establish the leading mechanism of such decay and show that the decay is sufficiently slow to enable high-fidelity single- and two-qubit gate operations

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2022

Helium surface fluctuations investigated with superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator

Recent experiments on the coupling of the in-plane motional state of electrons floating on the surface of liquid helium to a microwave resonator have revealed the importance of helium surface fluctuations to the coherence of this motion. Here we investigate these surface fluctuations by studying the resonance properties of a superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) resonator filled with superfluid helium, where a significant fraction of the resonator's electromagnetic mode volume is coupled to the surface dynamics of the liquid. We present preliminary results on real-time CPW resonator frequency shifts driven by helium fluctuations, which are quantified via their power spectral density and compared with measurements using a commercial accelerometer. We find that a considerable contribution to the CPW resonator noise originates from the mechanical vibrations of the helium surface generated by the pulse tube (PT) cryocooler on the cryostat on which the experiments were performed.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2022

Measurement of High Density Electrons Above a Helium Film on an Amorphous Metal Substrate

We have measured two-dimensional electron systems bound to a thin helium film supported by a metallic substrate. We report on our measurement of electron density obtained via a Kelvin probe technique. The underlying metallic substrate is an amorphous metallic alloy (TaWSi), which can support large uniform densities due to its low surface roughness and homogeneous work function. We find that this substrate is able to support high enough densities that the electrons are expected to be Fermi-degenerate.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2019

Nanowire Superinductance Fluxonium Qubit

We characterize a fluxonium qubit consisting of a Josephson junction inductively shunted with a NbTiN nanowire superinductance. We explain the measured energy spectrum by means of a multimode theory accounting for the distributed nature of the superinductance and the effect of the circuit nonlinearity to all orders in the Josephson potential. Using multiphoton Raman spectroscopy, we address multiple fluxonium transitions, observe multilevel Autler-Townes splitting and measure an excited state lifetime of $T_\mathrm{1}=20$ $μ$s. By measuring $T_1$ at different magnetic flux values, we find a crossover in the lifetime limiting mechanism from capacitive to inductive losses.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Transport Measurements of Surface Electrons in 200 nm Deep Helium-Filled Microchannels Above Amorphous Metallic Electrodes

We report transport measurements of electrons on helium in a microchannel device where the channels are 200 nm deep and 3 $μ$m wide. The channels are fabricated above amorphous metallic Ta$_{40}$W$_{40}$Si$_{20}$, which has surface roughness below 1 nm and minimal variations in work function across the surface due to the absence of polycrystalline grains. We are able to set the electron density in the channels using a ground plane. We estimate a mobility of 300 cm$^2$/V$\cdot$s and electron densities as high as 2.56$\times$10$^9$ cm$^{-2}$. We demonstrate control of the transport using a barrier which enables pinchoff at a central microchannel connecting two reservoirs. The conductance through the central microchannel is measured to be 10 nS for an electron density of 1.58$\times$10$^9$ cm$^{-2}$. Our work extends transport measurements of surface electrons to thin helium films in microchannel devices above metallic substrates.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2018

SKIFFS: Superconducting Kinetic Inductance Field-Frequency Sensors for Sensitive Magnetometry in Moderate Background Magnetic Fields

We describe sensitive magnetometry using lumped-element resonators fabricated from a superconducting thin film of NbTiN. Taking advantage of the large kinetic inductance of the superconductor, we demonstrate a continuous resonance frequency shift of $27$ MHz for a change in magnetic field of $1.8~μ$T within a perpendicular background field of 60 mT. By using phase-sensitive readout of microwaves transmitted through the sensors, we measure phase shifts in real time with a sensitivity of $1$ degree/nT. We present measurements of the noise spectral density of the sensors, and find their field sensitivity is at least within one to two orders of magnitude of superconducting quantum interference devices operating with zero background field. Our superconducting kinetic inductance field-frequency sensors enable real-time magnetometry in the presence of moderate perpendicular background fields up to at least 0.2 T. Applications for our sensors include the stabilization of magnetic fields in long coherence electron spin resonance measurements and quantum computation.

physics.ins-det↗

arXiv2018

Dynamical decoupling of interacting dipolar spin ensembles

We demonstrate that CPMG and XYXY decoupling sequences with non-ideal $π$ pulses can reduce dipolar interactions between spins of the same species in solids. Our simulations of pulsed electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments show that $π$ rotations with small ($<$~10\%) imperfections refocus instantaneous diffusion. Here, the intractable N-body problem of interacting dipoles is approximated by the average evolution of a single spin in a changing mean field. These calculations agree well with experiments and do not require powerful hardware. Our results add to past attempts to explain similar phenomena in solid state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Although the fundamental physics of NMR are similar to ESR, the larger linewidths in ESR and stronger dipolar interactions between electron spins compared to nuclear spins preclude drawing conclusions from NMR studies alone. For bulk spins, we also find that using XYXY results in less inflation of the deduced echo decay times as compared to decays obtained with CPMG.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Multi-frequency Spin Manipulation Using Rapidly Tunable Superconducting Coplanar Waveguide Microresonators

In this work, we demonstrate the use of frequency-tunable superconducting NbTiN coplanar waveguide microresonators for multi-frequency pulsed electron spin resonance (ESR) experiments. By applying a bias current to the center pin, the resonance frequency ($\sim$7.6 GHz) can be continuously tuned by as much as 95 MHz in 270 ns without a change in the quality factor of 3000 at 2K. We demonstrate the ESR performance of our resonators by measuring donor spin ensembles in silicon and show that adiabatic pulses can be used to overcome magnetic field inhomogeneities and microwave power limitations due to the applied bias current. We take advantage of the rapid tunability of these resonators to manipulate both phosphorus and arsenic spins in a single pulse sequence, demonstrating pulsed double electron-electron resonance (DEER). Our NbTiN resonator design is useful for multi-frequency pulsed ESR and should also have applications in experiments where spin ensembles are used as quantum memories.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Electron Spin Resonance at the Level of 10000 Spins Using Low Impedance Superconducting Resonators

We report on electron spin resonance (ESR) measurements of phosphorus donors localized in a 200 square micron area below the inductive wire of a lumped element superconducting resonator. By combining quantum limited parametric amplification with a low impedance microwave resonator design we are able to detect around 20000 spins with a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of 1 in a single shot. The 150 Hz coupling strength between the resonator field and individual spins is significantly larger than the 1 - 10 Hz coupling rates obtained with typical coplanar waveguide resonator designs. Due to the larger coupling rate, we find that spin relaxation is dominated by radiative decay into the resonator and dependent upon the spin-resonator detuning, as predicted by Purcell.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2017

Coherent Rabi dynamics of a superradiant spin ensemble in a microwave cavity

We achieve the strong coupling regime between an ensemble of phosphorus donor spins in a highly enriched $^{28}$Si crystal and a 3D dielectric resonator. Spins were polarized beyond Boltzmann equilibrium using spin selective optical excitation of the no-phonon bound exciton transition resulting in $N$ = $3.6\cdot10^{13}$ unpaired spins in the ensemble. We observed a normal mode splitting of the spin ensemble-cavity polariton resonances of 2$g\sqrt{N}$ = 580 kHz (where each spin is coupled with strength $g$) in a cavity with a quality factor of 75,000 ($γ\ll κ\approx$ 60 kHz where $γ$ and $κ$ are the spin dephasing and cavity loss rates, respectively). The spin ensemble has a long dephasing time (T$_2^*$ = 9 $μ$s) providing a wide window for viewing the dynamics of the coupled spin ensemble-cavity system. The free induction decay shows up to a dozen collapses and revivals revealing a coherent exchange of excitations between the superradiant state of the spin ensemble and the cavity at the rate $g\sqrt{N}$. The ensemble is found to evolve as a single large pseudospin according to the Tavis-Cummings model due to minimal inhomogeneous broadening and uniform spin-cavity coupling. We demonstrate independent control of the total spin and the initial Z-projection of the psuedospin using optical excitation and microwave manipulation respectively. We vary the microwave excitation power to rotate the pseudospin on the Bloch sphere and observe a long delay in the onset of the superradiant emission as the pseudospin approaches full inversion. This delay is accompanied by an abrupt $π$ phase shift in the peusdospin microwave emission. The scaling of this delay with the initial angle and the sudden phase shift are explained by the Tavis-Cummings model.

quant-ph↗