No Arabic abstract
Rabi oscillations have been observed in many superconducting devices, and represent prototypical logic operations for quantum bits (qubits) in a quantum computer. We use a three-level multiphoton analysis to understand the behavior of the superconducting phase qubit (current-biased Josephson junction) at high microwave drive power. Analytical and numerical results for the ac Stark shift, single-photon Rabi frequency, and two-photon Rabi frequency are compared to measurements made on a dc SQUID phase qubit with Nb/AlOx/Nb tunnel junctions. Good agreement is found between theory and experiment.
We present Rabi oscillation measurements of a Nb/AlOx/Nb dc superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) phase qubit with a 100 um^2 area junction acquired over a range of microwave drive power and frequency detuning. Given the slightly anharmonic level structure of the device, several excited states play an important role in the qubit dynamics, particularly at high power. To investigate the effects of these levels, multiphoton Rabi oscillations were monitored by measuring the tunneling escape rate of the device to the voltage state, which is particularly sensitive to excited state population. We compare the observed oscillation frequencies with a simplified model constructed from the full phase qubit Hamiltonian and also compare time-dependent escape rate measurements with a more complete density-matrix simulation. Good quantitative agreement is found between the data and simulations, allowing us to identify a shift in resonance (analogous to the ac Stark effect), a suppression of the Rabi frequency, and leakage to the higher excited states.
We have observed the coherent exchange of a single energy quantum between a flux qubit and a superconducting LC circuit acting as a quantum harmonic oscillator. The exchange of an energy quantum is known as the vacuum Rabi oscillations: the qubit is oscillating between the excited state and the ground state and the oscillator between the vacuum state and the first excited state. We have also obtained evidence of level quantization of the LC circuit by observing the change in the oscillation frequency when the LC circuit was not initially in the vacuum state.
We infer the high-frequency flux noise spectrum in a superconducting flux qubit by studying the decay of Rabi oscillations under strong driving conditions. The large anharmonicity of the qubit and its strong inductive coupling to a microwave line enabled high-amplitude driving without causing significant additional decoherence. Rabi frequencies up to 1.7 GHz were achieved, approaching the qubits level splitting of 4.8 GHz, a regime where the rotating-wave approximation breaks down as a model for the driven dynamics. The spectral density of flux noise observed in the wide frequency range decreases with increasing frequency up to 300 MHz, where the spectral density is not very far from the extrapolation of the 1/f spectrum obtained from the free-induction-decay measurements. We discuss a possible origin of the flux noise due to surface electron spins.
Nonlinear effects in mesoscopic devices can have both quantum and classical origins. We show that a three-Josephson-junction (3JJ) flux qubit in the _classical_ regime can produce low-frequency oscillations in the presence of an external field in resonance with the (high-frequency) harmonic mode of the system, $omega$. Like in the case of_quantum_ Rabi oscillations, the frequency of these pseudo-Rabi oscillations is much smaller than $omega$ and scales approximately linearly with the amplitude of the external field. This classical effect can be reliably distinguished from its quantum counterpart because it can be produced by the external perturbation not only at the resonance frequency $omega$ and its subharmonics ($omega/n$), but also at its overtones, $nomega$.
Time-domain observations of coherent oscillations between quantum states in mesoscopic superconducting systems were so far restricted to restoring the time-dependent probability distribution from the readout statistics. We propose a new method for direct observation of Rabi oscillations in a phase qubit. The external source, typically in GHz range, induces transitions between the qubit levels. The resulting Rabi oscillations of supercurrent in the qubit loop are detected by a high quality resonant tank circuit, inductively coupled to the phase qubit. Detailed calculation for zero and non-zero temperature are made for the case of persistent current qubit. According to the estimates for dephasing and relaxation times, the effect can be detected using conventional rf circuitry, with Rabi frequency in MHz range.