arXiv subjects

S. Shankar

Publications and source records attributed to S. Shankar.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2018

Driving forbidden transitions in the fluxonium artificial atom

Atomic systems display a rich variety of quantum dynamics due to the different possible symmetries obeyed by the atoms. These symmetries result in selection rules that have been essential for the quantum control of atomic systems. Superconducting artificial atoms are mainly governed by parity symmetry. Its corresponding selection rule limits the types of quantum systems that can be built using electromagnetic circuits at their optimal coherence operation points ("sweet spots"). Here, we use third-order nonlinear coupling between the artificial atom and its readout resonator to drive transitions forbidden by the parity selection rule for linear coupling to microwave radiation. A Lambda-type system emerges from these newly accessible transitions, implemented here in the fluxonium artificial atom coupled to its "antenna" resonator. We demonstrate coherent manipulation of the fluxonium artificial atom at its sweet spot by stimulated Raman transitions. This type of transition enables the creation of new quantum operations, such as the control and readout of physically protected artificial atoms.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Generation of discord through a remote joint continuous variable measurement

In quantum mechanics, continuously measuring an observable steers the system into one eigenstate of that observable. This property has interesting and useful consequences when the observable is a joint property of two remotely separated qubits. In particular, if the measurement of the two-qubit joint observable is performed in a way that is blind to single-qubit information, quantum back-action generates correlation of the discord type even if the measurement is weak and inefficient. We demonstrate the ability to generate these quantum correlations in a circuit-QED setup by performing a weak joint readout of two remote, non-interacting, superconducting transmon qubits using the two non-degenerate modes of a Josephson Parametric Converter (JPC). Single-qubit information is erased from the output in the limit of large gain and with properly tailored cavity drive pulses. Our results of the measurement of discord are in quantitative agreement with theoretical predictions, and demonstrate the utility of the JPC as a which-qubit information eraser.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2018

Remote entanglement stabilization and distillation by quantum reservoir engineering

Quantum information processing in a modular architecture requires the distribution, stabilization and distillation of entanglement in a qubit network. We present autonomous entanglement stabilization protocols between two superconducting qubits that are coupled to distant cavities. The coupling between cavities is mediated and controlled via a three-wave mixing device that generates either a two-mode squeezed state or a delocalized mode between the remote cavities depending on the pump applied to the mixer. Local drives on the qubits and the cavities steer and maintain the system to the desired qubit Bell state. Most spectacularly, even a weakly-squeezed state can stabilize a maximally entangled Bell state of two distant qubits through an autonomous distillation process. Moreover, we show that such reservoir-engineering based protocols can stabilize entanglement in presence of qubit-cavity asymmetries and losses.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Deterministic remote entanglement of superconducting circuits through microwave two-photon transitions

Large-scale quantum information processing networks will most probably require the entanglement of distant systems that do not interact directly. This can be done by performing entangling gates between standing information carriers, used as memories or local computational resources, and flying ones, acting as quantum buses. We report the deterministic entanglement of two remote transmon qubits by Raman stimulated emission and absorption of a traveling photon wavepacket. We achieve a Bell state fidelity of 73 %, well explained by losses in the transmission line and decoherence of each qubit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

Coherent oscillations inside a quantum manifold stabilized by dissipation

Manipulating the state of a logical quantum bit usually comes at the expense of exposing it to decoherence. Fault-tolerant quantum computing tackles this problem by manipulating quantum information within a stable manifold of a larger Hilbert space, whose symmetries restrict the number of independent errors. The remaining errors do not affect the quantum computation and are correctable after the fact. Here we implement the autonomous stabilization of an encoding manifold spanned by Schroedinger cat states in a superconducting cavity. We show Zeno-driven coherent oscillations between these states analogous to the Rabi rotation of a qubit protected against phase-flips. Such gates are compatible with quantum error correction and hence are crucial for fault-tolerant logical qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2017

3-Wave Mixing Josephson Dipole Element

Parametric conversion and amplification based on three-wave mixing are powerful primitives for efficient quantum operations. For superconducting qubits, such operations can be realized with a quadrupole Josephson junction element, the Josephson Ring Modulator (JRM), which behaves as a loss-less three-wave mixer. However, combining multiple quadrupole elements is a difficult task so it would be advantageous to have a pure three-wave dipole element that could be tessellated for increased power handling and/or information throughput. Here, we present a dipole circuit element with third-order nonlinearity, which implements three-wave mixing. Experimental results for a non-degenerate amplifier based on the proposed pure third-order nonlinearity are reported.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2016

Generating higher order quantum dissipation from lower order parametric processes

Stabilization of quantum manifolds is at the heart of error-protected quantum information storage and manipulation. Nonlinear driven-dissipative processes achieve such stabilization in a hardware efficient manner. Josephson circuits with parametric pump drives implement these nonlinear interactions. In this article, we propose a scheme to engineer a four-photon drive and dissipation on a harmonic oscillator by cascading experimentally demonstrated two-photon processes. This would stabilize a four-dimensional degenerate manifold in a superconducting resonator. We analyze the performance of the scheme using numerical simulations of a realizable system with experimentally achievable parameters.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Continuous quantum nondemolition measurement of the transverse component of a qubit

Quantum jumps of a qubit are usually observed between its energy eigenstates, also known as its longitudinal pseudo-spin component. Is it possible, instead, to observe quantum jumps between the transverse superpositions of these eigenstates? We answer positively by presenting the first continuous quantum nondemolition measurement of the transverse component of an individual qubit. In a circuit QED system irradiated by two pump tones, we engineer an effective Hamiltonian whose eigenstates are the transverse qubit states, and a dispersive measurement of the corresponding operator. Such transverse component measurements are a useful tool in the driven-dissipative operation engineering toolbox, which is central to quantum simulation and quantum error correction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2016

Robust concurrent remote entanglement between two superconducting qubits

Entangling two remote quantum systems which never interact directly is an essential primitive in quantum information science and forms the basis for the modular architecture of quantum computing. When protocols to generate these remote entangled pairs rely on using traveling single photon states as carriers of quantum information, they can be made robust to photon losses, unlike schemes that rely on continuous variable states. However, efficiently detecting single photons is challenging in the domain of superconducting quantum circuits because of the low energy of microwave quanta. Here, we report the realization of a robust form of concurrent remote entanglement based on a novel microwave photon detector implemented in the superconducting circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) platform of quantum information. Remote entangled pairs with a fidelity of $0.57\pm0.01$ are generated at $200$ Hz. Our experiment opens the way for the implementation of the modular architecture of quantum computation with superconducting qubits.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

The reconfigurable Josephson circulator/directional amplifier

Circulators and directional amplifiers are crucial non-reciprocal signal routing and processing components involved in microwave readout chains for a variety of applications. They are particularly important in the field of superconducting quantum information, where the devices also need to have minimal photon losses to preserve the quantum coherence of signals. Conventional commercial implementations of each device suffer from losses and are built from very different physical principles, which has led to separate strategies for the construction of their quantum-limited versions. However, as recently proposed theoretically, by establishing simultaneous pairwise conversion and/or gain processes between three modes of a Josephson-junction based superconducting microwave circuit, it is possible to endow the circuit with the functions of either a phase-preserving directional amplifier or a circulator. Here, we experimentally demonstrate these two modes of operation of the same circuit. Furthermore, in the directional amplifier mode, we show that the noise performance is comparable to standard non-directional superconducting amplifiers, while in the circulator mode, we show that the sense of circulation is fully reversible. Our device is far simpler in both modes of operation than previous proposals and implementations, requiring only three microwave pumps. It offers the advantage of flexibility, as it can dynamically switch between modes of operation as its pump conditions are changed. Moreover, by demonstrating that a single three-wave process yields non-reciprocal devices with reconfigurable functions, our work breaks the ground for the development of future, more-complex directional circuits, and has excellent prospects for on-chip integration.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2015

ESR measurements of phosphorus dimers in isotopically enriched 28Si silicon

Dopants in silicon have been studied for many decades using optical and electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy. Recently, new features have been observed in the spectra of dopants in isotopically enriched 28Si since the reduced inhomogeneous linewidth in this material improves spectral resolution. With this in mind, we measured ESR on exchange coupled phosphorus dimers in 28Si and report two results. First, a new fine structure is observed in the ESR spectrum arising from state mixing by the hyperfine coupling to the 31P nuclei, which is enhanced when the exchange energy is comparable to the Zeeman energy. This fine structure enables us to spectroscopically address two separate dimer sub-ensembles, the first with exchange (J) coupling ranging from 2 to 7 GHz and the second with J ranging from 6 to 60 GHz. Next, the average spin relaxation times, T1 and T2 of both dimer sub-ensembles were measured using pulsed ESR at 0.35 T. Both T1 and T2 for transitions between triplet states of the dimers were found to be identical to the relaxation times of isolated phosphorus donors in 28Si, with T2 = 4 ms at 1.7 K limited by spectral diffusion due to dipolar interactions with neighboring donor electron spins. This result, consistent with theoretical predictions, implies that an exchange coupling of 2 - 60 GHz does not limit the dimer T1 and T2 in bulk Si at the 10 ms timescale.

cond-mat.mtrl-sci↗

arXiv2014

Wireless Josephson Amplifier

Josephson junction parametric amplifiers are playing a crucial role in the readout chain in superconducting quantum information experiments. However, their integration with current 3D cavity implementations poses the problem of transitioning between waveguide, coax cables and planar circuits. Moreover, Josephson amplifiers require auxiliary microwave components, like directional couplers and/or hybrids, that are sources of spurious losses and impedance mismatches that limit measurement efficiency and amplifier tunability. We have developed a new wireless architecture for these parametric amplifiers that eliminates superfluous microwave components and interconnects. This greatly simplifies their assembly and integration into experiments. We present an experimental realization of such a device operating in the $9-11$ GHz band with about $100$ MHz of amplitude gain-bandwidth product, on par with devices mounted in conventional sample holders. The simpler impedance environment presented to the amplifier also results in increased amplifier tunability.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Josephson directional amplifier for quantum measurement of superconducting circuits

We have realized a microwave quantum-limited amplifier that is directional and can therefore function without the front circulator needed in many quantum measurements. The amplification takes place in only one direction between the input and output ports. Directionality is achieved by multi-pump parametric amplification combined with wave interference. We have verified the device noise performances by using it to readout a superconducting qubit and observed quantum jumps. With an improved version of this device, qubit and preamplifer could be integrated on the same chip.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2013

Tracking Photon Jumps with Repeated Quantum Non-Demolition Parity Measurements

Quantum error correction (QEC) is required for a practical quantum computer because of the fragile nature of quantum information. In QEC, information is redundantly stored in a large Hilbert space and one or more observables must be monitored to reveal the occurrence of an error, without disturbing the information encoded in an unknown quantum state. Such observables, typically multi-qubit parities such as , must correspond to a special symmetry property inherent to the encoding scheme. Measurements of these observables, or error syndromes, must also be performed in a quantum non-demolition (QND) way and faster than the rate at which errors occur. Previously, QND measurements of quantum jumps between energy eigenstates have been performed in systems such as trapped ions, electrons, cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED), nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers, and superconducting qubits. So far, however, no fast and repeated monitoring of an error syndrome has been realized. Here, we track the quantum jumps of a possible error syndrome, the photon number parity of a microwave cavity, by mapping this property onto an ancilla qubit. This quantity is just the error syndrome required in a recently proposed scheme for a hardware-efficient protected quantum memory using Schrödinger cat states in a harmonic oscillator. We demonstrate the projective nature of this measurement onto a parity eigenspace by observing the collapse of a coherent state onto even or odd cat states. The measurement is fast compared to the cavity lifetime, has a high single-shot fidelity, and has a 99.8% probability per single measurement of leaving the parity unchanged. In combination with the deterministic encoding of quantum information in cat states realized earlier, our demonstrated QND parity tracking represents a significant step towards implementing an active system that extends the lifetime of a quantum bit.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Stabilizing entanglement autonomously between two superconducting qubits

Quantum error-correction codes would protect an arbitrary state of a multi-qubit register against decoherence-induced errors, but their implementation is an outstanding challenge for the development of large-scale quantum computers. A first step is to stabilize a non-equilibrium state of a simple quantum system such as a qubit or a cavity mode in the presence of decoherence. Several groups have recently accomplished this goal using measurement-based feedback schemes. A next step is to prepare and stabilize a state of a composite system. Here we demonstrate the stabilization of an entangled Bell state of a quantum register of two superconducting qubits for an arbitrary time. Our result is achieved by an autonomous feedback scheme which combines continuous drives along with a specifically engineered coupling between the two-qubit register and a dissipative reservoir. Similar autonomous feedback techniques have recently been used for qubit reset and the stabilization of a single qubit state, as well as for creating and stabilizing states of multipartite quantum systems. Unlike conventional, measurement-based schemes, an autonomous approach counter-intuitively uses engineered dissipation to fight decoherence, obviating the need for a complicated external feedback loop to correct errors, simplifying implementation. Instead the feedback loop is built into the Hamiltonian such that the steady state of the system in the presence of drives and dissipation is a Bell state, an essential building-block state for quantum information processing. Such autonomous schemes, broadly applicable to a variety of physical systems as demonstrated by a concurrent publication with trapped ion qubits, will be an essential tool for the implementation of quantum-error correction.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2013

Demonstrating a Driven Reset Protocol of a Superconducting Qubit

Qubit reset is crucial at the start of and during quantum information algorithms. We present the experimental demonstration of a practical method to force qubits into their ground state, based on driving certain qubit and cavity transitions. Our protocol, called the double drive reset of population is tested on a superconducting transmon qubit in a three-dimensional cavity. Using a new method for measuring population, we show that we can prepare the ground state with a fidelity of at least 99.5 % in less than 3 microseconds; faster times and higher fidelity are predicted upon parameter optimization.

cond-mat.mes-hall↗

arXiv2013

Stabilizing a Bell state of two superconducting qubits by dissipation engineering

We propose a dissipation engineering scheme that prepares and protects a maximally entangled state of a pair of superconducting qubits. This is done by off-resonantly coupling the two qubits to a low-Q cavity mode playing the role of a dissipative reservoir. We engineer this coupling by applying six continuous-wave microwave drives with appropriate frequencies. The two qubits need not be identical. We show that our approach does not require any fine-tuning of the parameters and requires only that certain ratios between them be large. With currently achievable coherence times, simulations indicate that a Bell state can be maintained over arbitrary long times with fidelities above 94%. Such performance leads to a significant violation of Bell's inequality (CHSH correlation larger than 2.6) for arbitrary long times.

quant-ph↗

arXiv2012

Improving the Quality Factor of Microwave Compact Resonators by Optimizing their Geometrical Parameters

Applications in quantum information processing and photon detectors are stimulating a race to produce the highest possible quality factor on-chip superconducting microwave resonators. We have tested the surface-dominated loss hypothesis by systematically studying the role of geometrical parameters on the internal quality factors of compact resonators patterned in Nb on sapphire. Their single-photon internal quality factors were found to increase with the distance between capacitor fingers, the width of the capacitor fingers, and the impedance of the resonator. Quality factors were improved from 210,000 to 500,000 at T = 200 mK. All of these results are consistent with our starting hypothesis.

cond-mat.supr-con↗