We report an experimentally observed anomalous doubly split spectrum and its split-width fluctuation in an ultrastrongly coupled superconducting qubit and resonator. From an analysis of Rabimodel and circuit model Hamiltonians, we found that the doubly split spectrum and split-width fluctuation are caused by discrete charge hops due to quasiparticle tunnelings and a continuous background charge fluctuation in islands of a flux qubit. During 70 hours in the spectrum measurement, split width fluctuates but the middle frequency of the split is constant. This result indicates that quasiparticles in our device seem mainly tunnel one particular junction. The background offsetcharge obtained from split width has the 1/f noise characteristic.
We directly observe low-temperature non-equilibrium quasiparticle tunneling in a pair of charge qubits based on the single Cooper-pair box. We measure even- and odd-state dwell time distributions as a function of temperature, and interpret these results using a kinetic theory. While the even-state lifetime is exponentially distributed, the odd-state distribution is more heavily weighted to short times, implying that odd-to-even tunnel events are not described by a homogenous Poisson process. The mean odd-state dwell time increases sharply at low temperature, which is consistent with quasiparticles tunneling out of the island before reaching thermal equilibrium.
We study the photon transfer along a linear array of three coupled cavities where the central one contains an interacting two-level system in the strong and ultrastrong coupling regimes. We find that an inhomogeneously coupled array forbids a complete single-photon transfer between the external cavities when the central one performs a Jaynes-Cummings dynamics. This is not the case in the ultrastrong coupling regime, where the system exhibits singularities in the photon transfer time as a function of the cavity-qubit coupling strength. Our model can be implemented within the state-of-the-art circuit quantum electrodynamics technology and it represents a building block for studying photon state transfer through scalable cavity arrays.
Non-equilibrium quasiparticles are possible sources for decoherence in superconducting qubits because they can lead to energy decay or dephasing upon tunneling across Josephson junctions. Here, we investigate the impact of the intrinsic properties of two-dimensional transmon qubits on quasiparticle tunneling (QPT) and discuss how we can use QPT to gain critical information about the Josephson junction quality and device performance. We find the tunneling rate of the non-equilibrium quasiparticles to be sensitive to the choice of the shunting capacitor material and their geometry in qubits. In some devices, we observe an anomalous temperature dependence of the QPT rate below 100 mK that deviates from a constant background associated with non-equilibrium quasiparticles. We speculate that high transmission sites within the Josephson junctions tunnel barrier can lead to this behavior, which we can model by assuming that the defect sites have a smaller effective superconducting gap than the leads of the junction. Our results present a unique characterization tool for tunnel barrier quality in Josephson junctions and shed light on how quasiparticles can interact with various elements of the qubit circuit.
Metamaterial resonant structures made from arrays of superconducting lumped circuit elements can exhibit microwave mode spectra with left-handed dispersion, resulting in a high density of modes in the same frequency range where superconducting qubits are typically operated, as well as a bandgap at lower frequencies that extends down to dc. Using this novel regime for multi-mode circuit quantum electrodynamics, we have performed a series of measurements of such a superconducting metamaterial resonator coupled to a flux-tunable transmon qubit. Through microwave measurements of the metamaterial, we have observed the coupling of the qubit to each of the modes that it passes through. Using a separate readout resonator, we have probed the qubit dispersively and characterized the qubit energy relaxation as a function of frequency, which is strongly affected by the Purcell effect in the presence of the dense mode spectrum. Additionally, we have investigated the ac Stark shift of the qubit as the photon number in the various metamaterial modes is varied. The ability to tailor the dense mode spectrum through the choice of circuit parameters and manipulate the photonic state of the metamaterial through interactions with qubits makes this a promising platform for analog quantum simulation and quantum memories.
Interfacing photonic and solid-state qubits within a hybrid quantum architecture offers a promising route towards large scale distributed quantum computing. Ideal candidates for coherent qubit interconversion are optically active spins magnetically coupled to a superconducting resonator. We report on a cavity QED experiment with magnetically anisotropic Er3+:Y2SiO5 crystals and demonstrate strong coupling of rare-earth spins to a lumped element resonator. In addition, the electron spin resonance and relaxation dynamics of the erbium spins are detected via direct microwave absorption, without aid of a cavity.