Phase Qubit Research Articles

System-environment correlations for dephasing two-qubit states coupled to thermal baths

Based on the exact dynamics of a two-qubit system and environment, we investigate system-environment (SE) quantum and classical correlations. The coupling is chosen to represent a dephasing channel for one of the qubits and the environment is a proper thermal bath. First we discuss the general issue of dilation for qubit phase damping. Based on the usual thermal bath of harmonic oscillators, we derive criteria of separability and entanglement between an initial $X$ state and the environment. Applying these criteria to initial Werner states, we find that entanglement between the system and environment is built up in time for temperatures below a certain critical temperature $T_{\mathrm{crit}}$. On the other hand, the total state remains separable during those short times that are relevant for decoherence and loss of entanglement in the two-qubit state. Close to $T_{\mathrm{crit}}$ the SE correlations oscillate between separable and entangled. Even though these oscillations are also observed in the entanglement between the two qubits, no simple relation between the loss of entanglement in the two-qubit system and the build-up of entanglement between the system and environment is found.

Topological quantum computation within the anyonic system the Kauffman–Jones version of SU(2) Chern–Simons theory at level 4

By braiding and measuring anyons, we realize irrational qubit and qutrit phase gates within the anyonic system the Kauffman-Jones version of SU(2) Chern-Simons theory at level 4. We obtain universality on 1-qubit and 1-qutrit gates. In the qubit case, we also provide a protocol for realizing the controlled NOT gate, thus leading to universality on n-qubit gates.

Dispersive reservoir influence on the superconducting phase qubit

An analytical description of a superconducting (SC) phase qubit coupled to a torsional resonator, which is damped by a dispersive reservoir, is presented based on the master equation. Therefore, the effect of the qubit phase damping on the dynamical behavior of the entanglement, purity loss and qubit inversion are investigated. It is found that the collapse and revival phenomena of qubit inversion are very sensitive not only to the damping parameter but also to the frequency detuning and the qubit distribution angle of the initial state. It is interesting to note that the purity of the state of the SC-qubit, which is measured by von Neumann entropy, can be completely lost due to the dispersive reservoir parameter. Because of the existence of dispersive reservoir, the von Neumann entropy cannot be a measure for the entanglement in open system. So, the negative eigenvalue of the partially transposed density matrix of qubit-resonator system is used to quantify the entanglement. For certain parameter sets, it is possible to control the degree and the dynamics of entanglement between the qubit and the torsional resonator.

Rapid characterization of microscopic two-level systems using Landau-Zener transitions in a superconducting qubit

We demonstrate a fast method to detect microscopic two-level systems in a superconducting phase qubit. By monitoring the population leak after sweeping the qubit bias flux, we are able to measure the two-level systems that are coupled with the qubit. Compared with the traditional method that detects two-level systems by energy spectroscopy, our method is faster and more sensitive. This method supplies a useful tool to investigate two-level systems in solid-state qubits.

Direct measurement on the geometric phase of a double quantum dot qubit via quantum point contact device.

We propose a direct measurement scheme to read out the geometric phase of a coupled double quantum dot system via a quantum point contact(QPC) device. An effective expression of the geometric phase has been derived, which relates the geometric phase of the double quantum dot qubit to the current through QPC device. All the parameters in our expression are measurable or tunable in experiment. Moreover, since the measurement process affects the state of the qubit slightly, the geometric phase can be protected. The feasibility of the scheme has been analyzed. Further, as an example, we simulate the geometrical phase of a qubit when the QPC device is replaced by a single electron transistor(SET).

Quantum-information processing on nitrogen-vacancy ensembles with the local resonance assisted by circuit QED

With the local resonant interaction between a nitrogen-vacancy-center ensemble (NVE) and a superconducting coplanar resonator, and the single-qubit operation, we propose two protocols for the state transfer between two remote NVEs and for fast controlled-phase (c-phase) on these NVEs, respectively. This hybrid quantum system is composed of two distant NVEs coupled to separated high-Q transmission line resonators (TLRs), which are interconnected by a current-biased Josephsonjunction superconducting phase qubit. The fidelity of our state-transfer protocol is about 99.65% within the operation time of 70.60 ns. The fidelity of our c-phase gate is about 98.23% within the operation time of 93.87 ns. Furthermore, using the c-phase gate, we construct a two-dimensional cluster state on NVEs in n*n square grid based on the hybrid quantum system for the one-way quantum computation. Our protocol may be more robust, compared with the one based on the superconducting resonators, due to the long coherence time of NVEs at room temperature.

Macroscopic quantum tunnelling in spin filter ferromagnetic Josephson junctions.

The interfacial coupling of two materials with different ordered phases, such as a superconductor (S) and a ferromagnet (F), is driving new fundamental physics and innovative applications. For example, the creation of spin-filter Josephson junctions and the demonstration of triplet supercurrents have suggested the potential of a dissipationless version of spintronics based on unconventional superconductivity. Here we demonstrate evidence for active quantum applications of S-F-S junctions, through the observation of macroscopic quantum tunnelling in Josephson junctions with GdN ferromagnetic insulator barriers. We show a clear transition from thermal to quantum regime at a crossover temperature of about 100 mK at zero magnetic field in junctions, which present clear signatures of unconventional superconductivity. Following previous demonstration of passive S-F-S phase shifters in a phase qubit, our result paves the way to the active use of spin filter Josephson systems in quantum hybrid circuits.

Effect of the optical field in squeezed coherent state on the entanglement of coupling qubits

We investigate the interaction between the optical field in squeezed coherent state and the coupling qubits. By means of numerical calculation, we discuss the effects of coherent amplitude, relative phase of the coupling qubits, squeezing parameter and azimuth angle on the concurrence and the probability of two qubits simultaneously in the excited state. When the relative phase is zero, entanglement death will occur, which can be avoided through increasing the relative phase. Larger value the relative phase takes, more the concurrence will be far away from entanglement death. Moreover, smaller squeezing parameter will also help to entanglement maintaining. The research indicates that in the optical filed of squeezed coherent states, the entanglement death can be avoided completely through manipulating the relative phase of the coupling qubits that initially in the entangled coherent states.

Optimized probing states for qubit phase estimation with general quantum noise

We exploit the theory of quantum estimation to investigate quantum state estimation in the presence of noise. The quantum Fisher information is used to assess the estimation performance. For the qubit in Bloch representation, general expressions are derived for the quantum score and then for the quantum Fisher information. From this latter expression, it is proved that the Fisher information always increases with the purity of the measured qubit state. An arbitrary quantum noise affecting the qubit is taken into account for its impact on the Fisher information. The task is then specified to estimating the phase of a qubit in a rotation around an arbitrary axis, equivalent to estimating the phase of an arbitrary single-qubit quantum gate. The analysis enables determination of the optimal probing states best resistant to the noise, and proves that they always are pure states but need to be specifically matched to the noise. This optimization is worked out for several noise models important to the qubit. An adaptive scheme and a Bayesian approach are presented to handle phase-dependent solutions.

Atomic delocalization as a microscopic origin of two-level defects in Josephson junctions

Identifying the microscopic origins of decoherence sources prevalent in Josephson junction (JJ) based circuits is central to their use as functional quantum devices. Focussing on so called ‘strongly coupled’ two-level defects, we construct a theoretical model using the atomic position of the oxygen which is spatially delocalized in the oxide forming the JJ barrier. Using this model, we investigate which atomic configurations give rise to two-level behaviour of the type seen in experiments. We compute experimentally observable parameters for phase qubits and examine defect response under the effects of applied electric field and strain.

Interacting tunneling model for two-level systems in amorphous materials and its predictions for their dephasing and noise in superconducting microresonators

We formulate the generalized tunneling model for two level systems in insulators that takes into account the interaction between them and a slow power law dependence of their density of states. We show that the predictions of this model are in a perfect agreement with the recent studies of the noise in high quality superconducting resonators. The predictions also agree with the temperature dependence of the TLS dephasing rates observed in phase qubits. Both observations are impossible to explain in the framework of the standard tunneling model of TLS. We discuss the origin of the universal dimensionless parameter that controls the interaction between TLS in glasses and show that it is consistent with the assumptions of the model.

Non-Markovian dynamics of the mixed-state geometric phase of dissipative qubits

We investigate the geometric phase of a two-level atom (qubit) coupled to a bosonic reservoir with Lorentzian spectral density and find that for the non-Markovian dynamics in which the rotating-wave approximation (RWA) is performed, the geometric phase has a $\ensuremath{\pi}$-phase jump at the nodal point. However, the exact result without the RWA given by the hierarchical equations of motion method shows that there is no such phase jump or nodal structure in the geometric phase. Thus our results demonstrate that the counterrotating terms significantly contribute to the geometric phase in the multimode Hamiltonian under certain circumstances.

Optimal control of a quantum measurement

Pulses to steer the time evolution of quantum systems can be designed with optimal control theory. In most cases it is the coherent processes that can be controlled and one optimizes the time evolution towards a target unitary process, sometimes also in the presence of non-controllable incoherent processes. Here we show how to extend the GRAPE algorithm in the case where the incoherent processes are controllable and the target time evolution is a non-unitary quantum channel. We perform a gradient search on a fidelity measure based on Choi matrices. We illustrate our algorithm by optimizing a phase qubit measurement pulse. We show how this technique can lead to large measurement contrast close to 99%. We also show, within the validity of our model, that this algorithm can produce short 1.4 ns pulses with 98.2% contrast.

Generating genuine multipartite entanglement via X Y-interaction and via projective measurements

We have studied the generation of multipartite entangled states for the superconducting phase qubits. The experiments performed in this direction have the capacity to generate several specific multipartite entangled states for three and four qubits. Our studies are also important as we have used a computable measure of genuine multipartite entanglement whereas all previous studies analyzed certain probability amplitudes. As a comparison, we have reviewed the generation of multipartite entangled states via von Neumann projective measurements.

Compressed sensing quantum process tomography for superconducting quantum gates

We apply the method of compressed sensing (CS) quantum process tomography (QPT) to characterize quantum gates based on superconducting Xmon and phase qubits. Using experimental data for a two-qubit controlled-Z gate, we obtain an estimate for the process matrix $\chi$ with reasonably high fidelity compared to full QPT, but using a significantly reduced set of initial states and measurement configurations. We show that the CS method still works when the amount of used data is so small that the standard QPT would have an underdetermined system of equations. We also apply the CS method to the analysis of the three-qubit Toffoli gate with numerically added noise, and similarly show that the method works well for a substantially reduced set of data. For the CS calculations we use two different bases in which the process matrix $\chi$ is approximately sparse, and show that the resulting estimates of the process matrices match each ther with reasonably high fidelity. For both two-qubit and three-qubit gates, we characterize the quantum process by not only its process matrix and fidelity, but also by the corresponding standard deviation, defined via variation of the state fidelity for different initial states.

Photonic phase transition in circuit quantum electrodynamics lattices coupled to superconducting phase qubits

A hybrid quantum architecture was proposed to engineer a localization-delocalization phase transition of light in a two-dimension square lattices of superconducting coplanar waveguide resonators, which are interconnected by current-biased Josephson junction phase qubits. We find that the competition between the on-site repulsion and the nonlocal photonic hopping leads to the Mott insulator-superfluid transition. By using the mean-field approach and the quantum master equation, the phase boundary between these two different phases could be obtained when the dissipative effects of superconducting resonators and phase qubit are considered. The good tunability of the effective on-site repulsion and photon-hopping strengths enable quantum simulation on condensed matter physics and many-body models using such a superconducting resonator lattice system. The experimental feasibility is discussed using the currently available technology in the circuit QED.

Spin Ensembles Coupled to Superconducting Resonators: A Scalable Architecture for Solid-State Quantum Computing

A design is proposed for scalable solid-state quantum computing, which is based on collectively enhanced magnetic coupling between nitrogen-vacancy center ensembles and superconducting transmission line resonators interconnected by current-biased Josephson junction superconducting phase qubit. In this hybrid system, we realize distant multi-qubit controlled phase gate operations and generate distant multi-qubit entangled W-like states, being indispensable resource to quantum computation. Our proposed architecture consists of solid-state spin ensembles and circuit QED, and could achieve quantum computing in a solid-state environment with high-fidelity and scalable way. The experimental feasibility is discussed, and the implementation efficiency is demonstrated numerically.

Tunable-cavity QED with phase qubits

We describe a tunable-cavity QED architecture with an rf SQUID phase qubit inductively coupled to a single-mode, resonant cavity with a tunable frequency that allows for both microwave readout of tunneling and dispersive measurements of the qubit. Dispersive measurement is well characterized by a three-level model, strongly dependent on qubit anharmonicity, qubit-cavity coupling and detuning. A tunable cavity frequency provides a way to strongly vary both the qubit-cavity detuning and coupling strength, which can reduce Purcell losses, cavity-induced dephasing of the qubit, and residual bus coupling for a system with multiple qubits. With our qubit-cavity system, we show that dynamic control over the cavity frequency enables one to avoid Purcell losses during coherent qubit evolutions and optimize state readout during qubit measurements. The maximum qubit decay time $T_1$ = 1.5 $\mu$s is found to be limited by surface dielectric losses from a design geometry similar to planar transmon qubits.

Spectrum of a superconducting phase qubit coupled to a microscopic two-level system

We measured experimentally the spectrum of a superconducting phase qubit. An avoided energy-level crossing is obviously observed, which is due to the coupling to a microscopic two-level system. With different theoretical methods, we simulated the spectrum, from which we can obtain the coupled system’s parameters and the coupling mechanism.

Decoherence suppression combining quantum uncollapsing and dynamical decoupling

We demonstrate a protocol, that combines quantum uncollapsing and dynamical decoupling, to protect the quantum state stored in a qubit against decoherence errors. The protocol can simultaneously suppress the two kinds of decoherence processes: the energy relaxation and the low-frequency noise induced dephasing. We present the analytical derivation and numerical simulations in detail. We also provide a preliminary experimental test in superconducting phase qubits, using the process fidelity to calibrate the performance of the protocol. Our results suggest that the protocol can be effective against errors due to both energy relaxation and the low-frequency dephasing noise, except at a reduced probability of success.