No Arabic abstract
We derive the Hamiltonian of a superconducting circuit that comprises a single-Josephson-junction flux qubit and an LC oscillator. If we keep the qubits lowest two energy levels, the derived circuit Hamiltonian takes the form of the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian, which describes a two-level system coupled to a harmonic oscillator, regardless of the coupling strength. To investigate contributions from the qubits higher energy levels, we numerically calculate the transition frequencies of the circuit Hamiltonian. We find that the qubits higher energy levels mainly cause an overall shift of the entire spectrum, but the energy level structure up to the seventh excited states can still be fitted well by the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian even in the case where the coupling strength is larger than the frequencies of the qubit and the oscillator, i.e., when the qubit-oscillator circuit is in the deep-strong-coupling regime. We also confirm that some of the paradoxical properties of the quantum Rabi Hamiltonian in the deep-strong-coupling regime, e.g. the non-negligible number of photons and the nonzero expectation value of the flux in the oscillator in the ground state, arise from the circuit Hamiltonian as well.
The interaction between an atom and the electromagnetic field inside a cavity has played a crucial role in the historical development of our understanding of light-matter interaction and is a central part of various quantum technologies, such as lasers and many quantum computing architectures. The emergence of superconducting qubits has allowed the realization of strong and ultrastrong coupling between artificial atoms and cavities. If the coupling strength $g$ becomes as large as the atomic and cavity frequencies ($Delta$ and $omega_{rm o}$ respectively), the energy eigenstates including the ground state are predicted to be highly entangled. This qualitatively new regime can be called the deep strong-coupling regime, and there has been an ongoing debate over whether it is fundamentally possible to realize this regime in realistic physical systems. By inductively coupling a flux qubit and an LC oscillator via Josephson junctions, we have realized circuits with $g/omega_{rm o}$ ranging from 0.72 to 1.34 and $g/Deltagg 1$. Using spectroscopy measurements, we have observed unconventional transition spectra, with patterns resembling masquerade masks, that are characteristic of this new regime. Our results provide a basis for ground-state-based entangled-pair generation and open a new direction of research on strongly correlated light-matter states in circuit-quantum electrodynamics.
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
We report on spectra of circuit-quantum-electrodynamics (QED) systems in an intermediate regime that lies between the ultrastrong and deep-strong-coupling regimes, which have been reported previously in the literature. Our experimental results, along with numerical simulations, demonstrate that as the coupling strength increases, the spectrum of a circuit-QED system undergoes multiple qualitative transformations, such that several coupling regimes are identified, each with its own unique spectral features. The different spectral transformations can be related to crossings between energy level differences and to changes in the symmetries of the energy eigenstates. These results allow us to use qualitative spectral features to infer certain properties and parameters of the system.
A flux qubit biased at its symmetry point shows a minimum in the energy splitting (the gap), providing protection against flux noise. We have fabricated a qubit whose gap can be tuned fast and have coupled this qubit strongly to an LC oscillator. We show full spectroscopy of the qubit-resonator system and generate vacuum Rabi oscillations. When the gap is made equal to the oscillator frequency $ u_{osc}$ we find the strongest qubit-resonator coupling ($g/hsim0.1 u_{rm osc}$). Here being at resonance coincides with the optimal coherence of the symmetry point. Significant further increase of the coupling is possible.
We study a circuit QED setup where multiple superconducting qubits are ultrastrongly coupled to a single radio-frequency resonator. In this extreme parameter regime of cavity QED the dynamics of the electromagnetic mode is very slow compared to all other relevant timescales and can be described as an effective particle moving in an adiabatic energy landscape defined by the qubits. The focus of this work is placed on settings with two or multiple qubits, where different types of symmetry-breaking transitions in the ground- and excited-state potentials can occur. Specifically, we show how the change in the level structure and the wave packet dynamics associated with these transition points can be probed via conventional excitation spectra and Ramsey measurements performed at GHz frequencies. More generally, this analysis demonstrates that state-of-the-art circuit QED systems can be used to access a whole range of particle-like quantum mechanical phenomena beyond the usual paradigm of coupled qubits and oscillators.