Flux Qubit Research Articles

Entanglement between distant atoms mediated by a hybrid quantum system consisting of superconducting flux qubit and resonators

A hybrid quantum system consisting of spatially separated two-level atoms is studied. Two atoms do not interact directly, but they are coupled via an intermediate system which consists of a superconducting flux qubit interacting with a mechanical and an electrical resonator which are coupled to one of the atoms. Moreover, the superconducting flux qubit is driven by a classical microwave field. Applying adiabatic elimination, an effective Hamiltonian for the atomic subsystem is obtained. Our results demonstrate that entanglement degradation decay as well as fidelity decay in the dispersive regime are faster. Moreover, the driven field amplitude possesses an important role in entanglement and fidelity evolution.

Quantum routing of single optical photons with a superconducting flux qubit

Controlling and swapping quantum information in a quantum coherent way between the microwave and optical regimes is essential for building long-range superconducting quantum networks but extremely challenging. We propose a hybrid quantum interface between the microwave and optical domains where the propagation of a single-photon pulse along a nanowaveguide is controlled in a coherent way by tuning electromagnetically induced transparency window with the quantum state of a flux qubit. The qubit can route a single-photon pulse with a single spin in nanodiamond into a quantum superposition of paths without the aid of an optical cavity - simplifying the setup. By preparing the flux qubit in a superposition state our cavity-less scheme creates a hybrid state-path entanglement between a flying single optical photon and a static superconducting qubit, and can conduct heralded quantum state transfer via measurement.

Feedback control of persistent-current oscillation based on the atomic-clock technique

We propose a scheme of stabilizing the persistent-current Rabi oscillation based on the flux qubit-resonator-atom hybrid structure. The LC resonator weakly interacts with the flux qubit and maps the persistent-current Rabi oscillation onto the intraresonator electric field. This field is further coupled to a Rydberg-Rydberg transition of the $^{87}$Rb atom. The Rabi-frequency fluctuation of the flux qubit is deduced from measuring the atomic population and stabilized via feedback controlling the external flux bias. Our numerical simulation indicates that the feedback-control method can efficiently suppress the background fluctuations in the flux qubit, especially in the low-frequency limit. This technique may be extensively applicable to different types of superconducting circuits, paving a new way to long-term-coherence superconducting quantum information processing.

Inversion of Qubit Energy Levels in Qubit-Oscillator Circuits in the Deep-Strong-Coupling Regime.

We report on experimentally measured light shifts of superconducting flux qubits deep-strongly coupled to LC oscillators, where the coupling constants are comparable to the qubit and oscillator resonance frequencies. By using two-tone spectroscopy, the energies of the six lowest levels of each circuit are determined. We find huge Lamb shifts that exceed 90% of the bare qubit frequencies and inversions of the qubits' ground and excited states when there are a finite number of photons in the oscillator. Our experimental results agree with theoretical predictions based on the quantum Rabi model.

Single-nitrogen-vacancy-center quantum memory for a superconducting flux qubit mediated by a ferromagnet

We propose a quantum memory scheme to transfer and store the quantum state of a superconducting flux qubit (FQ) into the electron spin of a single nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center in diamond via yttrium iron garnet (YIG), a ferromagnet. Unlike an ensemble of NV centers, the YIG moderator can enhance the effective FQ-NV-center coupling strength without introducing additional appreciable decoherence. We derive the effective interaction between the FQ and the NV center by tracing out the degrees of freedom of the collective mode of the YIG spins. We demonstrate the transfer, storage, and retrieval procedures, taking into account the effects of spontaneous decay and pure dephasing. Using realistic experimental parameters for the FQ, NV center and YIG, we find that a combined transfer, storage, and retrieval fidelity higher than 0.9, with a long storage time of 10 ms, can be achieved. This hybrid system not only acts as a promising quantum memory, but also provides an example of enhanced coupling between various systems through collective degrees of freedom.

Quantum criticality and state engineering in the simulated anisotropic quantum Rabi model

Promising applications of the anisotropic quantum Rabi model (AQRM) in broad parameter ranges are explored, which is realized with superconducting flux qubits simultaneously driven by two-tone time-dependent magnetic fields. Regarding the quantum phase transitions (QPTs), with assistance of fidelity susceptibility, we extract the scaling functions and the critical exponents, with which the universal scaling of the cumulant ratio is captured by rescaling the parameters related to the anisotropy. Moreover, a fixed point of the cumulant ratio is predicted at the critical point of the AQRM with finite anisotropy. In respect of quantum information tasks, the generation of the macroscopic Schrödinger cat states and quantum controlled phase gates are investigated in the degenerate case of the AQRM, whose performance is also investigated by numerical calculation with practical parameters. Therefore, our results pave the way to explore distinct features of the AQRM in circuit QED systems for QPTs, quantum simulations and quantum information processing.

Full-vortex flux qubit for charged-particle optics

We introduce a design of a superconducting flux qubit capable of holding a full magnetic flux quantum $\phi_{0}$, which arguably is an essential property for applications in charged particle optics. The qubit comprises a row of $N$ constituent qubits, which hold a fractional magnetic flux quantum $\phi_{0}/N$. Insights from physics of the transverse-field Ising chain reveal that properly designed interaction between these constituent qubits enables their collective behavior while also maintaining the overall quantumness.

Dynamics of tripartite quantum correlations and decoherence in flux qubit systems under local and non-local static noise

We investigate the dynamics of entanglement, decoherence and quantum discord in a system of three non-interacting superconducting flux qubits (fqubits) initially prepared in a Greenberger–Horne–Zeilinger (GHZ) state and subject to static noise in different, bipartite and common environments, since it is recognized that different noise configurations generally lead to completely different dynamical behavior of physical systems. The noise is modeled by randomizing the single fqubit transition amplitude. Decoherence and quantum correlations dynamics are strongly affected by the purity of the initial state, type of system–environment interaction and the system–environment coupling strength. Specifically, quantum correlations can persist when the fqubits are commonly coupled to a noise source, and reaches a saturation value respective to the purity of the initial state. As the number of decoherence channels increases (bipartite and different environments), decoherence becomes stronger against quantum correlations that decay faster, exhibiting sudden death and revival phenomena. The residual entanglement can be successfully detected by means of suitable entanglement witness, and we derive a necessary condition for entanglement detection related to the tunable and non-degenerated energy levels of fqubits. In accordance with the current literature, our results further suggest the efficiency of fqubits over ordinary ones, as far as the preservation of quantum correlations needed for quantum processing purposes is concerned.

Dynamical Controls for Improving Quantum Search Algorithm Through Flux Qubits System

AbstractA new technique was developed to generate the dynamical quantum gates, depend on the ferromagnetism and antiferromagnetism phenomena in the superconducting flux qubits system at the same interaction time. According to the dynamical controls techniques of such gates, we invoke and synthesize a new algorithm called the dynamical quantum search algorithm. The Grover algorithm was obtained at a specified time for the current algorithm. This algorithm was distinguished by accuracy in obtaining high probability of finding any marked state in a shorter time compared with Grover algorithm time. The algorithm performance was improved with respect to different values of the dynamical controls.

Insufficiency of avoided crossings for witnessing large-scale quantum coherence in flux qubits

Do experiments based on superconducting loops segmented with Josephson junctions (e.g., flux qubits) show macroscopic quantum behavior in the sense of Schr\"odinger's cat example? Various arguments based on microscopic and phenomenological models were recently adduced in this debate. We approach this problem by adapting (to flux qubits) the framework of large-scale quantum coherence, which was already successfully applied to spin ensembles and photonic systems. We show that contemporary experiments might show quantum coherence more than 100 times larger than experiments in the classical regime. However, we argue that the often-used demonstration of an avoided crossing in the energy spectrum is not sufficient to make a conclusion about the presence of large-scale quantum coherence. Alternative, rigorous witnesses are proposed.

Two-dimensional network of atomtronic qubits

Through a combination of laser beams, we engineer a two-dimensional optical lattice of Mexican hat potentials able to host atoms in its ring-shaped wells. When tunneling can be ignored (at high laser intensities), we show that a well-defined qubit can be associated with the states of the atoms trapped in each of the rings. Each of these two-level systems can be manipulated by a suitable configuration of Raman laser beams imprinting a synthetic flux onto each Mexican hat cell of the lattice. Overall, we believe that the system has the potential to form a scalable architecture for atomtronic flux qubits.

A modified Stern-Gerlach experiment using a quantum two-state magnetic field

The Stern-Gerlach experiment has played an important role in our understanding of quantum behavior. We propose and analyze a modified version of this experiment where the magnetic field of the detector is in a quantum superposition, which may be experimentally realized using a superconducting flux qubit. We show that if incident spin-$1/2$ particles couple with the two-state magnetic field, a discrete target distribution results that resembles the distribution in the classical Stern-Gerlach experiment. As an application of the general result, we compute the distribution for a square waveform of the incident fermion. This experimental setup allows us to establish: (1) the quantization of the intrinsic angular momentum of a spin-$1/2$ particle, and (2) a correlation between EPR pairs leading to nonlocality, without necessarily collapsing the particle's spin wavefunction.

Controlling entanglement in the interferometry of driven coupled flux qubits

We study the manipulation of quantum entanglement by periodic external fields in the Landau-Zener-Stuckelberg interferometry of coupled flux qubits. As an entanglement measure we compute numerically the concurrence of two coupled flux qubits, both driven by a dc+ac magnetic flux. We show that it is possible to create or destroy entanglement in a controlled way by tuning the system at or near multiphoton resonances.

One-step implementation of a hybrid Fredkin gate with quantum memories and single superconducting qubit in circuit QED and its applications.

In a recent remarkable experiment [Sci. Adv. 2, e1501531 (2016)], a 3-qubit quantum Fredkin (i.e., controlled-SWAP) gate was demonstrated by using linear optics. Here we propose a simple experimental scheme by utilizing the dispersive interaction in superconducting quantum circuit to implement a hybrid Fredkin gate with a superconducting flux qubit as the control qubit and two separated quantum memories as the target qudits. The quantum memories considered here are prepared by the superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators or nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles. In particular, it is shown that this Fredkin gate can be realized using a single-step operation and more importantly, each target qudit can be in an arbitrary state with arbitrary degrees of freedom. Furthermore, we show that this experimental scheme has many potential applications in quantum computation and quantum information processing such as generating arbitrary entangled states (discrete-variable states or continuous-variable states) of the two memories, measuring the fidelity and the entanglement between the two memories. With state-of-the-art circuit QED technology, the numerical simulation is performed to demonstrate that two-memory NOON states, entangled coherent states, and entangled cat states can be efficiently synthesized.

27aCC-10 超伝導磁束量子ビット間のキャパシティブ結合を用いたイジング型相互作用の実現(27aCC 量子エレクトロニクス(量子コンピューター・超伝導),領域1(原子分子・量子エレクトロニクス・放射線))

27aCC-10 超伝導磁束量子ビット間のキャパシティブ結合を用いたイジング型相互作用の実現(27aCC 量子エレクトロニクス(量子コンピューター・超伝導),領域1(原子分子・量子エレクトロニクス・放射線))

Tunable coupling of spin ensembles.

Spin ensembles are promising candidates for quantum memory units because they have long coherence time. Controlling the coupling between spin ensembles is necessary and important in quantum information processing. In this Letter, we propose a method to realize tunable coupling between spin ensembles by a superconducting flux qubit acting as a coupler. The resulting coupling can be used to high-fidelity speed up the adiabatic transfer of quantum information.

Generating maximally-path-entangled number states in two spin ensembles coupled to a superconducting flux qubit

An ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers coupled to a circuit QED device is shown to enable an efficient, high-fidelity generation of high-N00N states. Instead of first creating entanglement and then increasing the number of entangled particles $N$, our source of high-N00N states first prepares a high-$N$ Fock state in one of the NV ensembles and then entangles it to the rest of the system. With such a strategy, high-$N$ N00N states can be generated in just a few operational steps with an extraordinary fidelity. Once prepared, such a state can be stored over a longer period of time due to the remarkably long coherence time of NV centers.

Magnetically induced transparency of a quantum metamaterial composed of twin flux qubits

Quantum theory is expected to govern the electromagnetic properties of a quantum metamaterial, an artificially fabricated medium composed of many quantum objects acting as artificial atoms. Propagation of electromagnetic waves through such a medium is accompanied by excitations of intrinsic quantum transitions within individual meta-atoms and modes corresponding to the interactions between them. Here we demonstrate an experiment in which an array of double-loop type superconducting flux qubits is embedded into a microwave transmission line. We observe that in a broad frequency range the transmission coefficient through the metamaterial periodically depends on externally applied magnetic field. Field-controlled switching of the ground state of the meta-atoms induces a large suppression of the transmission. Moreover, the excitation of meta-atoms in the array leads to a large resonant enhancement of the transmission. We anticipate possible applications of the observed frequency-tunable transparency in superconducting quantum networks.

Tunable Hybrid Qubit in a Triple Quantum Dot

We experimentally demonstrate quantum coherent dynamics of a triple-dot-based multi-electron hybrid qubit. Pulsed experiments show that this system can be conveniently initialized, controlled, and measured electrically, and has good coherence time as compared to gate time. Furthermore, the current multi-electron hybrid qubit has an operation frequency that is tunable in a wide range, from 2 to about 15 GHz. We provide qualitative understandings of the experimental observations by mapping it onto a three-electron system, and compare it with the double dot hybrid qubit and the all-exchange triple-dot qubit.

Observing pure effects of counter-rotating terms without ultrastrong coupling: A single photon can simultaneously excite two qubits

The coherent process that a single photon simultaneously excites two qubits has recently been theoretically predicted by [https://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.043601 {Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 043601 (2016)}]. We propose a different approach to observe a similar dynamical process based on a superconducting quantum circuit, where two coupled flux qubits longitudinally interact with the same resonator. We show that this simultaneous excitation of two qubits (assuming that the sum of their transition frequencies is close to the cavity frequency) is related to the counter-rotating terms in the dipole-dipole coupling between two qubits, and the standard rotating-wave approximation is not valid here. By numerically simulating the adiabatic Landau-Zener transition and Rabi-oscillation effects, we clearly verify that the energy of a single photon can excite two qubits via higher-order transitions induced by the longitudinal couplings and the counter-rotating terms. Compared with previous studies, the coherent dynamics in our system only involves one intermediate state and, thus, exhibits a much faster rate. We also find transition paths which can interfere. Finally, by discussing how to control the two longitudinal-coupling strengths, we find a method to observe both constructive and destructive interference phenomena in our system.