The true-differential superconductor on-chip amplifier has complementary outputs that float with respect to chip ground. This improves signal integrity and compatibility with the receiving semiconductor stage. Both source-terminated and non-source-terminated designs producing 4mV demonstrated rejection of a large common mode interference in the package. Measured margins are $pm$8.5% on the output bias, and $pm$28% on AC clock amplitude. Waveforms and eye diagrams are taken at 2.9-10Gb/s. Direct measurement of bit-error rates are better than the resolution limit of 1e-12 at 2.9Gb/s, and better than 1e-9 at 10Gb/s.
We analyze the design of a potential replacement technology for the commercial ferrite circulators that are ubiquitous in contemporary quantum superconducting microwave experiments. The lossless, lumped element design is capable of being integrated on chip with other superconducting microwave devices, thus circumventing the many performance-limiting aspects of ferrite circulators. The design is based on the dynamic modulation of DC superconducting microwave quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that function as nearly linear, tunable inductors. The connection to familiar ferrite-based circulators is a simple frame boost in the internal dynamics equation of motion. In addition to the general, schematic analysis, we also give an overview of many considerations necessary to achieve a practical design with a tunable center frequency in the 4-8 GHz frequency band, a bandwidth of 240 MHz, reflections at the -20 dB level, and a maximum signal power of approximately order 100 microwave photons per inverse bandwidth.
Superconducting digital circuits are a promising approach to build packaged-level integrated systems with high energy-efficiency and computational density. In such systems, performance of the data link between chips mounted on a multi-chip module (MCM) is a critical driver of performance. In this work we report a synchronous data link using Reciprocal Quantum Logic (RQL) enabled by resonant clock distribution on the chip and on the MCM carrier. The simple physical link has only four Josephson junctions and 3 fJ/bit dissipation, including a 300 W/W cooling overhead. The driver produces a signal with 35 GHz analog bandwidth and connects to a single-ended receiver via 20 $Omega$ Nb Passive Transmission Line (PTL). To validate this link, we have designed, fabricated and tested two 32$times$32 mm$^2$ MCMs with eight 5$times$5 mm$^2$ chips connected serially and powered with a meander clock, and with four 10$times$10 mm$^2$ chips powered with a 2 GHz resonant clock. The meander clock MCM validates performance of the data link components, and achieved 5.4 dB AC bias margin with no degradation relative to individual chip test. The resonator MCM validates synchronization between chips, with a measured AC bias margin up to 4.8 dB between two chips. The resonator MCM is capable of powering circuits of 4 million Josephson junctions across the four chips with a projected 10 Gbps serial data rate.
Quantum feedback is a technique for measuring a qubit and applying appropriate feedback depending on the measurement results. Here, we propose a new on-chip quantum feedback method where the measurement-result information is not taken from the chip to the outside of a dilution refrigerator. This can be done by using a selective qubit-energy shift induced by measurement apparatus. We demonstrate on-chip quantum feedback and succeed in the rapid initialization of a qubit by flipping the qubit state only when we detect the ground state of the qubit. The feedback loop of our quantum feedback method closed on a chip, and so the operating time needed to control a qubit is of the order of 10 ns. This operating time is shorter than with the convectional off-chip feedback method. Our on-chip quantum feedback technique opens many possibilities such as an application to quantum information processing and providing an understanding of the foundation of thermodynamics for quantum systems.
We report on the design and performance of an on-chip microwave circulator with a widely (GHz) tunable operation frequency. Non-reciprocity is created with a combination of frequency conversion and delay, and requires neither permanent magnets nor microwave bias tones, allowing on-chip integration with other superconducting circuits without the need for high-bandwidth control lines. Isolation in the device exceeds 20 dB over a bandwidth of tens of MHz, and its insertion loss is small, reaching as low as 0.9 dB at select operation frequencies. Furthermore, the device is linear with respect to input power for signal powers up to hundreds of fW ($approx 10^3$ circulating photons), and the direction of circulation can be dynamically reconfigured. We demonstrate its operation at a selection of frequencies between 4 and 6 GHz.
Quantum information processing holds great promise for communicating and computing data efficiently. However, scaling current photonic implementation approaches to larger system size remains an outstanding challenge for realizing disruptive quantum technology. Two main ingredients of quantum information processors are quantum interference and single-photon detectors. Here we develop a hybrid superconducting-photonic circuit system to show how these elements can be combined in a scalable fashion on a silicon chip. We demonstrate the suitability of this approach for integrated quantum optics by interfering and detecting photon pairs directly on the chip with waveguide-coupled single-photon detectors. Using a directional coupler implemented with silicon nitride nanophotonic waveguides, we observe 97% interference visibility when measuring photon statistics with two monolithically integrated superconducting single photon detectors. The photonic circuit and detector fabrication processes are compatible with standard semiconductor thin-film technology, making it possible to implement more complex and larger scale quantum photonic circuits on silicon chips.