Effect of vortices on the spin-flip lifetime of atoms in superconducting atom-chips
Gilles Nogues, Cédric Roux, Thomas Nirrengarten, Adrian Lupascu, Andreas Emmert, Michel Brune, Jean-Michel Raimond, Serge Haroche, Bernard Placais, Jean-Jacques Greffet
We study theoretically the lifetime of magnetically trapped atoms in the close vicinity of a type-II superconducting surface, in the context of superconducting atom-chips. We account for the magnetic noise created at the cloud position by the vortices present in the superconductor and give specific results for our experiment which uses a niobium film. Our main result is that atom losses are dominated by the presence of vortices. They remain however dramatically smaller than in equivalent room-temperature atom-chip setups using normal metals.
We have integrated single and coupled superconducting transmon qubits into flip-chip modules. Each module consists of two chips -- one quantum chip and one control chip -- that are bump-bonded together. We demonstrate time-averaged coherence times exceeding $90\,μs$, single-qubit gate fidelities exceeding $99.9\%$, and two-qubit gate fidelities above $98.6\%$. We also present device design methods and discuss the sensitivity of device parameters to variation in interchip spacing. Notably, the additional flip-chip fabrication steps do not degrade the qubit performance compared to our baseline s…
Significant progress has been made in building large-scale superconducting quantum processors based on flip-chip technology. In this work, we use the flip-chip technology to realize a modified transmon qubit, donated as the "flipmon", whose large shunt capacitor is replaced by a vacuum-gap parallel plate capacitor. To further reduce the qubit footprint, we place one of the qubit pads and a single Josephson junction on the bottom chip and the other pad on the top chip which is galvanically connected with the single Josephson junction through an indium bump. The electric field participation rati…
Accurate gap control of 3D-integrated superconducting quantum circuits using asymmetric indium architecture and multi-angle flip-chip bonding
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften（瓦尔特·迈斯纳研究所，巴伐利亚科学院）；Peak Quantum GmbH（Peak量子有限公司）
We describe an experiment in which Bose-Einstein condensates and cold atom clouds are held by a microscopic magnetic trap near a room temperature metal wire 500 $μ$m in diameter. The ensemble of atoms breaks into fragments when it is brought close to the ceramic-coated aluminum surface of the wire, showing that fragmentation is not peculiar to copper surfaces. The lifetime for atoms to remain in the microtrap is measured over a range of distances down to $27 μ$m from the surface of the metal. We observe the loss of atoms from the microtrap due to spin flips. These are induced by radio-frequenc…
We derive the spontaneous and thermal spin-flip rates for a neutral two-level ultra-cold atom that is coupled to a magnetic field. We apply this theory to an atom in the vicinity of a 2-layer cylindrical absorbing dielectric body surrounded by an unbounded homogeneous medium. An analytical expression is obtained for the spontaneous and thermal spin-flip rate in this particular geometry. The corresponding lifetime is then computed numerically. We compare these theoretical lifetimes to those measured by Jones et al. [M.P.A. Jones, C.J. Vale, D. Sahagun, B.V. Hall, and E.A. Hinds, Phys. Rev. Lett…
We theoretically investigate the heating rate and spin flip lifetimes due to near field noise for atoms trapped close to layered superconducting structures. In particular, we compare the case of a gold layer deposited above a superconductor with the case of a bare superconductor. We study a niobium-based and a YBCO-based chip. For both niobium and YBCO chips at a temperature of 4.2 K, we find that the deposition of the gold layer can have a significant impact on the heating rate and spin flip lifetime, as a result of the increase of the near field noise. At a chip temperature of 77 K, this eff…
A Compact Broadband Purcell Filter for Superconducting Quantum Circuits in a 3D Flip-Chip Architecture
Technical University of Munich（慕尼黑工业大学）；Walther-Meißner-Institut, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften（瓦尔特·迈斯纳研究所，巴伐利亚科学院）；Fraunhofer EMFT Institute for Electronic Microsystems and Solid State Technologies（弗劳恩霍夫电子微系统和固态技术研究所）
As the field of superconducting quantum computing advances from the few-qubit stage to larger-scale processors, qubit addressability and extensibility will necessitate the use of 3D integration and packaging. While 3D integration is well-developed for commercial electronics, relatively little work has been performed to determine its compatibility with high-coherence solid-state qubits. Of particular concern, qubit coherence times can be suppressed by the requisite processing steps and close proximity of another chip. In this work, we use a flip-chip process to bond a chip with superconducting …
For globally connected devices like smart phones, personal computers and Internet-of-things devices, the ability to generate random numbers is essential for execution of cryptographic protocols responsible for information security. Generally, a random number generator should be small, robust, utilize as few hardware and energy resources as possible, yet provide excellent randomness at a high enough speed (bitrate) for a given purpose. In this work we present a quantum random number generator (QRNG) which makes use of a photoelectric effect in single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) as a source …
Using a consistent quantum-mechanical treatment for the electromagnetic radiation, we theoretically investigate the magnetic spin-flip scatterings of a neutral two-level atom trapped in the vicinity of a superconducting body. We derive a simple scaling law for the corresponding spin-flip lifetime for such an atom trapped near a superconducting thick slab. For temperatures below the superconducting transition temperature T_c, the lifetime is found to be enhanced by several orders of magnitude in comparison to the case of a normal conducting slab. At zero temperature the spin-flip lifetime is gi…
We comment on a recent paper [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 070401 (2006): quant-ph/0603229] concerning rubidium atoms trapped near a superconducting niobium surface at ~4K. This seeks to calculate the rate of atomic spin flips induced by thermal magnetic noise. We point out that the calculation is in error by a large factor because it is based on the two-fluid model of superconductivity. This model gives a poor description of electromagnetic dissipation just below the critical temperature because it cannot incorporate the case II coherences of a fuller quantum theory.
Using a multi-layered printed circuit board, we propose a 3D architecture suitable for packaging supercon- ducting chips, especially chips that contain two-dimensional qubit arrays. In our proposed architecture, the center strips of the buried coplanar waveguides protrude from the surface of a dielectric layer as contacts. Since the contacts extend beyond the surface of the dielectric layer, chips can simply be flip-chip packaged with on-chip receptacles clinging to the contacts. Using this scheme, we packaged a multi-qubit chip and per- formed single-qubit and two-qubit quantum gate operation…
We theoretically study the coupling of Bose-Einstein condensed atoms to the mechanical oscillations of a nanoscale cantilever with a magnetic tip. This is an experimentally viable hybrid quantum system which allows one to explore the interface of quantum optics and condensed matter physics. We propose an experiment where easily detectable atomic spin-flips are induced by the cantilever motion. This can be used to probe thermal oscillations of the cantilever with the atoms. At low cantilever temperatures, as realized in recent experiments, the backaction of the atoms onto the cantilever is sign…
In its most general form, the atom chip is a device in which neutral or charged particles are positioned in an isolating environment such as vacuum (or even a carbon solid state lattice) near the chip surface. The chip may then be used to interact in a highly controlled manner with the quantum state. I outline the importance of material science to quantum computing (QC) with atom chips, where the latter may be utilized for many, if not all, suggested implementations of QC. Material science is important both for enhancing the control coupling to the quantum system for preparation and manipulati…
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 metho…
We show that the performance and functionality of atom-chips can be transformed by using graphene-based van der Waals heterostructures to overcome present limitations on the lifetime of the trapped atom cloud and on its proximity to the chip surface. Our analysis involves Green-function calculations of the thermal (Johnson) noise and Casimir-Polder atom-surface attraction produced by the atom-chip. This enables us to determine the lifetime limitations produced by spin-flip, tunneling and three-body collisional losses. Compared with atom-chips that use thick metallic conductors and substrates, …
Breaking the scalability barrier via a vertical tunable coupler in 3D integrated transmon system
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University（南京大学固体微结构物理学院）；Shishan Laboratory, Nanjing University（南京大学时山实验室）；Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Ouantum Information Science and Technology, Nanjing University（南京大学江苏省量子信息科学与技术重点实验室）；Tencent Quantum Laboratory, Tencent（腾讯量子实验室）
In recent years diamond magnetometers based on the nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center have been of considerable interest for magnetometry applications at the nanoscale. An interesting application which is well suited for NV centers is the study of nanoscale magnetic phenomena in superconducting materials. We employ the magnetic sensitivity of NV centers in diamond to interrogate the magnetic properties of a thin-layer yttrium barium copper oxide (YBCO) superconductor. Using fluorescence-microscopy methods and samples integrated with an NV sensor on a microchip, we measure the temperature of phase tr…
Atom chips made of superconducting material can generate magnetic traps with significantly reduced noise. Recently, several designs for superconducting chips have been theoretically analyzed and experimentally tested, for cases with many vortices considered as an average vortex density. Here we show theoretically, for the first time, how the magnetic field of a $\it single$ vortex, pinned by a superconducting nano-disc of radius $\sim$100 nm and combined with an external bias field parallel to the disc surface, yields a closed 3D trap for cold atoms. The size of the trap, and its height above …
Recently demonstrated superconducting atom-chips provide a platform for trapping atoms and coupling them to solid-state quantum systems. Controlling these devices requires a full understanding of the supercurrent distribution in the trapping structures. For type-II superconductors, this distribution is hysteretic in the critical state due to the partial penetration of the magnetic field in the thin superconducting film through pinned vortices. We report here an experimental observation of this memory effect. Our results are in good agreement with the redictions of the Bean model of the critica…
Elimination of Flux Trapping in Superconducting Circuits in Ambient Magnetic Fields
MIT Lincoln Laboratory（麻省理工学院林肯实验室）；Department of Physics, Harvard University（哈佛大学物理系）；Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology（麻省理工学院比特与原子中心）
