Cooper-pair Box Qubit Research Articles

Nanomechanical cat states generated by a dc voltage-driven Cooper pair box qubit

We study a nanoelectromechanical system consisting of a Cooper pair box qubit performing nanomechanical vibrations between two bulk superconductors. We demonstrate that a bias voltage applied to the superconductors may generate states represented by entanglement between qubit states and quantum ’cat states’, i.e. a superposition of the coherent states of the nanomechanical oscillator. We characterize the formation and development of such states in terms of the corresponding Wigner function and entropy of entanglement. Also, we propose an experimentally feasible detection scheme for the effect, in which the average current that attains the specific features created by the entanglement is measured.

Entanglement between charge qubit states and coherent states of nanomechanical resonator generated by ac Josephson effect

We considered a nanoelectromechanical system consisting of a movable Cooper-pair box qubit, which is subject to an electrostatic field, and coupled to the two bulk superconductors via tunneling processes. We suggest that qubit dynamics is related to that of a quantum oscillator and demonstrate that a bias voltage applied between superconductors generates states represented by the entanglement of qubit states and coherent states of the oscillator if certain resonant conditions are fulfilled. It is shown that a structure of this entanglement may be controlled by the bias voltage in a way that gives rise to the entanglement incorporating so-called cat-states—the superposition of coherent states. We characterize the formation and development of such states analyzing the entropy of entanglement and corresponding Wigner function. The experimentally feasible detection of the effect by measuring the average current is also considered.

A massive squeeze

A Cooper-pair box qubit is used to squeeze the energy of a heavy oscillating membrane towards a quantum energy eigenstate, bringing measurements of how mass and quantum mechanics interplay one step closer.

Shortcuts to adiabatic for implementing controlled phase gate with Cooper-pair box qubits in circuit quantum electrodynamics system

We theoretically present a protocol to realize the controlled phase gate with Cooper-pair box (CPB) qubits in circuit quantum electrodynamics (circuit QED) system. In this protocol, the one-dimensional transmission line resonator in circuit QED system acting as quantum data bus generates a common cavity mode and interacts with each CPB qubit. The Rabi frequencies of driven pluses can be designed with simple Gaussian or trigonometric functions by utilizing the universal SU(2) transformation. Moreover, the level configurations of CPB qubits have been reported by previous protocol (Feng and Zhang in Phys C 470:240–243, 2010). Thus, the protocol can be realized easily in experiment. In addition, the influence of various decoherence processes such as spontaneous emissions, dephasings of the CPB qubits and the decay of the cavity mode on the fidelity is discussed by numerical simulations. The results show that the protocol is robust against the decoherence and parameter variations. Therefore, the protocol may be useful for the fields of quantum computations.

Decoherence in a pair of long-lived Cooper-pair boxes

We have investigated the decoherence of quantum states in two Al/AlOx/Al Cooper-pair boxes coupled to lumped element superconducting inductor-capacitor resonators. At 25 mK, the first qubit had an energy relaxation time T1 that varied from 30 μs to 200 μs between 4 and 8 GHz and displayed an inverse correlation between T1 and the coupling to the microwave drive line. The Ramsey fringe decay times T2* were in the [200–500] ns range while the spin echo envelope decay times Techo varied from 2.4–3.3 μs, consistent with 1/f charge noise with a high frequency cutoff of 0.2 MHz. A second Cooper-pair box qubit with similar parameters showed T1=4−30 μs between 4 and 7.3 GHz, and that the T1 and the coupling were again inversely correlated. Although the lifetime of the second device was shorter than that of the first device, the dependence on coupling in both devices suggests that further reduction in coupling should lead to improved qubit performance.

Parametric Amplification and Back-Action Noise Squeezing by a Qubit-Coupled Nanoresonator

We demonstrate the parametric amplification and noise squeezing of nanomechanical motion utilizing dispersive coupling to a Cooper-pair box qubit. By modulating the qubit bias and resulting mechanical resonance shift, we achieve gain of 30 dB and noise squeezing of 4 dB. This qubit-mediated effect is 3000 times more effective than that resulting from the weak nonlinearity of capacitance to a nearby electrode. This technique may be used to prepare nanomechanical squeezed states.

Quantum information transfer with Cooper-pair box qubits in circuit QED

We propose a feasible scheme to transfer quantum information with Cooper-pair box qubits arrayed in a circuit QED. Qubits interact with a quantum data bus generated by a one-dimensional transmission line resonator. Based on the Raman adiabatic passage, the cavity bus-assisted quantum population transfer between any selected pair of qubits can be controlled by addressing the applied gate pulses. Therefore, the scheme provides the possibility for effectively implementing scalable quantum information transfer with Josephson devices.

Progress in the development of a single Cooper-pair box qubit

We describe in this review progress in techniques for measuring the quantum states of the single Cooper-pair box (SCB) at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the use of these techniques to characterize their performance as quantum bits. Initially, the Radio-Frequency-Single-Electron Transistor was used to measure conventional and differential versions of the SCB. To overcome some of the difficulties associated with the radio-frequency single-electron transistor, a transition was made to readout based on the quantum capacitance technique. Using this method, entanglement between two SCBs was demonstrated spectroscopically and with ground state characterization.

Ground-state cooling of a nanomechanical resonator via a Cooper-pair box qubit

In this paper, we present a scheme for ground-state cooling of a flexural mode of a nanomechanical beam incorporated in a loop-shaped Cooper-pair box (CPB) circuit. Via the Lorentz force coupling of the beam motion to circulating CPB-circuit currents, energy is transferred to the CPB qubit which acts as a dissipative two-level system. The cooling process is driven by a detuned gate voltage drive acting on the CPB. We analyze the cooling force spectrum and present analytical expressions for the cooling rate and final occupation number for a wide parameter regime. In particular, we find that cooling is optimized in a strong drive regime, and we present the necessary conditions for ground-state cooling.

Charge-insensitive qubit design derived from the Cooper pair box

Short dephasing times pose one of the main challenges in realizing a quantum computer. Different approaches have been devised to cure this problem for superconducting qubits, a prime example being the operation of such devices at optimal working points, so-called ``sweet spots.'' This latter approach led to significant improvement of ${T}_{2}$ times in Cooper pair box qubits [D. Vion et al., Science 296, 886 (2002)]. Here, we introduce a new type of superconducting qubit called the ``transmon.'' Unlike the charge qubit, the transmon is designed to operate in a regime of significantly increased ratio of Josephson energy and charging energy ${E}_{J}∕{E}_{C}$. The transmon benefits from the fact that its charge dispersion decreases exponentially with ${E}_{J}∕{E}_{C}$, while its loss in anharmonicity is described by a weak power law. As a result, we predict a drastic reduction in sensitivity to charge noise relative to the Cooper pair box and an increase in the qubit-photon coupling, while maintaining sufficient anharmonicity for selective qubit control. Our detailed analysis of the full system shows that this gain is not compromised by increased noise in other known channels.

Entangling pairs of nano-cantilevers, Cooper-pair boxes and mesoscopic teleportation

We propose two schemes to establish entanglement between two mesoscopic quantum systems through a third mesoscopic quantum system. The first scheme entangles two nano-mechanical oscillators in a non-Gaussian entangled state through a Cooper-pair box (CPB). Entanglement detection of the nano-mechanical oscillators is equivalent to a teleportation experiment in a mesoscopic setting. The second scheme can entangle two CPB qubits through a nano-mechanical oscillator in the presence of arbitrarily strong decoherence.