We suggest a nanoelectromechanical setup and corresponding time-protocol for controlling parameters in order to demonstrate nanomechanical manipulation of superconducting charge-qubit quantum network. We illustrate it on an example reflecting important task for quantum information processing - transmission of quantum information between two charge-qubits facilitated by nanomechanics. The setup is based on terminals utilizing the AC Josephson effect between bias voltage-controlled bulk superconductors and mechanically vibrating mesoscopic superconducting grain in the regime of the Cooper pair box, controlled by the gate voltage. The described manipulation of quantum network is achieved by transduction of quantum information between charge-qubits and intentionally built nanomechanical coherent states, which facilitate its transmission between qubits. This performance is achieved using quantum entanglement between electrical and mechanical states.
We propose a scheme able to entangle at the steady state a nanomechanical resonator with a microwave cavity mode of a driven superconducting coplanar waveguide. The nanomechanical resonator is capacitively coupled with the central conductor of the waveguide and stationary entanglement is achievable up to temperatures of tens of milliKelvin.
We present an analysis of the dynamics of a nanomechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting single electron transistor (SSET) in the vicinity of the Josephson quasiparticle (JQP) and double Josephson quasiparticle (DJQP) resonances. For weak coupling and wide separation of dynamical timescales, we find that for either superconducting resonance the dynamics of the resonator is given by a Fokker-Planck equation, i.e., the SSET behaves effectively as an equilibrium heat bath, characterised by an effective temperature, which also damps the resonator and renormalizes its frequency. Depending …
We describe a quantum computational architecture based on integrating nanomechanical resonators with Josephson junction phase qubits, with which we implement single- and multi-qubit operations. The nanomechanical resonator is a GHz-frequency, high-quality-factor dilatational resonator, coupled to the Josephson phase through a piezoelectric interaction. This system is analogous to one or more few-level atoms (the Josephson qubits) in a tunable electromagnetic cavity (the nanomechanical resonator). Our architecture combines the best features of solid-state and cavity-QED approaches, and may make…
We propose and analyze a hybrid device by integrating a microscale diamond beam with a single built-in nitrogen-vacancy (NV) center spin to a superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) cavity. We find that under an ac electric field the quantized motion of the diamond beam can strongly couple to the single cavity photons via dielectric interaction. Together with the strong spin-motion interaction via a large magnetic field gradient, it provides a hybrid quantum device where the dia- mond resonator can strongly couple both to the single microwave cavity photons and to the single NV center spin. T…
We propose an active mechanism for coupling the quantized mode of a nanomechanical resonator to the persistent current in the loop of a superconducting Josephson junction (or phase slip) flux qubit. This coupling is independently controlled by an external coupling magnetic field. The whole system forms a novel solid-state cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED) architecture in the strong coupling limit. This architecture can be used to demonstrate quantum optics phenomena and coherently manipulate the qubit for quantum information processing. The coupling mechanism is applicable for more generali…
Recent theoretical work has shown that radiation pressure effects can in principle cool a mechanical degree of freedom to its ground state. In this paper, we apply this theory to our realization of an opto-mechanical system in which the motion of mechanical oscillator modulates the resonance frequency of a superconducting microwave circuit. We present experimental data demonstrating the large mechanical quality factors possible with metallic, nanomechanical beams at 20 mK. Further measurements also show damping and cooling effects on the mechanical oscillator due to the microwave radiation fie…
We investigate a superconducting single-electron transistor capacitively coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator and focus on the double Josephson quasiparticle resonance. The existence of two coherent Cooper pair tunneling events is shown to lead to pronounced backaction effects. Measuring the current and the shot noise provides a direct way of gaining information on the state of the oscillator. In addition to an analytical discussion of the linear-response regime, we discuss and compare results of higher-order approximation schemes and a fully numerical solution. We find that cooling of the m…
We propose a scheme for generating the Schrödinger cat state based on geometric operations by a nanomechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting charge qubit. The charge qubit, driven by two strong classical fields, interacts with a high-frequency phonon mode of the nanomechanical resonator. During the operation, the charge qubit undergoes no real transitions, while the phonon mode of the nanomechanical resonator is displaced along different paths in the phase space, dependent on the states of the charge qubit, which yields the Schrödinger cat state. The robustness of the scheme is justif…
We consider a theoretical model for a nonlinear nanomechanical resonator coupled to a superconducting microwave resonator. The nanomechanical resonator is driven parametrically at twice its resonance frequency, while the superconducting microwave resonator is driven with two tones that differ in frequency by an amount equal to the parametric driving frequency. We show that the semi-classical approximation of this system has an interesting fixed point bifurcation structure. In the semi-classical dynamics a transition from stable fixed points to limit cycles is observed as one moves from positiv…
The rapid experimental progress in the field of superconducting nanocircuits gives rise to an increasing quest for advanced quantum-control techniques for these macroscopically coherent systems. Here we demonstrate theoretically that stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) should be possible with the quantronium setup of a Cooper-pair box. The scheme appears to be robust against decoherence and should be realizable even with the existing technology. As an application we present a method to generate single-phonon states of a nanomechnical resonator by vacuum-stimulated adiabatic passage wit…
We propose a setup which allows to couple the electron spin degree of freedom to the mechanical motions of a nanomechanical system not involving any of the ferromagnetic components. The proposed method employs the strain induced spin-orbit interaction of electrons in narrow gap semiconductors. We have shown how this method can be used for detection and manipulation of the spin flow through a suspended rod in a nanomechanical device.
We present a hybrid system consisting of a superconducting coplanar waveguide resonator coupled to a nanomechanical string and a transmon qubit acting as nonlinear circuit element. We perform spectroscopy for both the transmon qubit and the nanomechanical string. Measuring the ac-Stark shift on the transmon qubit as well as the electromechanically induced absorption on the string allows us to determine the average photon number in the microwave resonator in both the low and high power regimes. In this way, we measure photon numbers that are up to nine orders of magnitude apart. We find a quant…
We study theoretically a radio frequency superconducting interference device integrated with both a nanomechanical resonator and an LC one. By applying adiabatic and rotating wave approximations, we obtain an effective Hamiltonian that governs the dynamics of the mechanical and LC resonators. Nonlinear terms in this Hamiltonian can be exploited for performing a quantum nondemolition measurement of Fock states of the nanomechanical resonator. We address the feasibility of experimental implementation and show that the nonlinear coupling can be made sufficiently strong to allow the detection of d…
We consider a new type of cooling mechanism for a suspended nanowire acting as a weak link between two superconductive electrodes. By applying a bias voltage over the system, we show that the system can be viewed as a refrigerator for the nanomechanical vibrations, where energy is continuously transferred from the vibrational degrees of freedom to the extended quasiparticle states in the leads through the periodic modulation of the inter-Andreev level separation. The necessary coupling between the electronic and mechanical degrees of freedom responsible for this energy-transfer can be achieved…
We present a theory describing the semiclassical dynamics of a superconducting flux qubit inductively coupled to a nanomechanical oscillator. Focusing on the influence of the qubit on the mechanical element, and on the nonlinear phenomena displayed by this device, we show that it exhibits retardation effects and self-excited oscillations. These can be harnessed for the generation of non-classical states of the mechanical oscillator. In addition, we find that this system shares several fundamental properties with cavity optomechanical systems, and elucidate the analogy between these two classes…
Practical quantum networks require low-loss and noise-resilient optical interconnects as well as non-Gaussian resources for entanglement distillation and distributed quantum computation. The latter could be provided by superconducting circuits but - despite growing efforts and rapid progress - existing solutions to interface the microwave and optical domains lack either scalability or efficiency, and in most cases the conversion noise is not known. In this work we utilize the unique opportunities of silicon photonics, cavity optomechanics and superconducting circuits to demonstrate a fully int…
We consider a nanoelectromechanical system composed of a carbon nanotube suspended between two normal leads and coupled to a superconducting scanning tunneling microscope (STM) tip via vacuum tunnel barrier. Treating the nanotube as a single-level quantum dot, it is shown that an applied voltage between the superconducting STM tip and normal leads gives rise to a pumping or a cooling of the mechanical subsystem depending on the direction of the electronic flow. It is also demonstrated that the transition between these two regimes is controlled by the strength of the tunnel coupling between the…
Cavity optomechanics enables active manipulation of mechanical resonators through backaction cooling and amplification. This ability to control mechanical motion with retarded optical forces has recently spurred a race towards realizing a mechanical resonator in its quantum ground state. Here, instead of quenching optomechanical motion, we demonstrate high amplitude operation of nanomechanical resonators by utilizing a highly efficient phonon generation process. In this regime, the nanomechanical resonators gain sufficient energy from the optical field to overcome the large energy barrier of a…
We discuss two theoretical proposals for controlling the nonequilibrium steady state of nanomechanical resonators using quantum electronic transport. Specifically?, we analyse two approaches to achieve the ground-state cooling of the mechanical vibration coupled to a quantum dot embedded between (i) spin-polarised contacts or (ii) a normal metal and a superconducting contact. Assuming a suitable coupling between the vibrational modes and the charge or spin of the electrons in the quantum dot, we show that ground-state cooling of the mechanical oscillator is within the state of the art for susp…
We propose a hybrid system composed of a Majorana qubit and a nanomechanical resonator, implemented by a spin-orbit-coupled superconducting nanowire, using a set of static and oscillating ferromagnetic gates. The ferromagnetic gates induce Majorana bound states in the nanowire, which hybridize and constitute a Majorana qubit. Due to the oscillation of one of these gates, the Majorana qubit can be coherently rotated. By tuning the gate voltage to modulate the local spin-orbit coupling, it is possible to reach the resonance of the qubit-oscillator system for relatively strong couplings.
A nanoelectromechanical weak link composed of a carbon nanotube suspended between two normal electrodes in a gap between two superconducting leads is considered. The nanotube is treated as a movable single-level quantum dot in which the position-dependent superconducting order parameter is induced due to the Cooper pair tunneling. We show that electron tunneling processes significantly affect the state of the mechanical subsystem. We found that at a given direction of the applied voltage between the electrodes, the stationary state of the mechanical subsystem has a Boltzmann form with an effec…
Sensitive measurement of electrical signals is at the heart of modern science and technology. According to quantum mechanics, any detector or amplifier is required to add a certain amount of noise to the signal, equaling at best the energy of quantum fluctuations. The quantum limit of added noise has nearly been reached with superconducting devices which take advantage of nonlinearities in Josephson junctions. Here, we introduce a new paradigm of amplification of microwave signals with the help of a mechanical oscillator. By relying on the radiation pressure force on a nanomechanical resonator…
Coupled micro- and nanomechanical oscillators are of fundamental and technical interest for emerging quantum technologies. Upon interfacing with long-lived solid-state spins, the coherent manipulation of the quantum hybrid system becomes possible even at ambient conditions. While, the ability of these systems to act as a quantum bus inducing long-range spin-spin interactions has been known, the possibility to coherently couple electron/nuclear spins to the common modes of multiple oscillators and map their mechanical motion to spin-polarization has not been experimentally demonstrated. We here…
Time-dependent linear coupling between macroscopic quantum resonator modes generates both a parametric amplification also known as a {}"squeezing operation" and a beam splitter operation, analogous to quantum optical systems. These operations, when applied properly, can robustly generate entanglement and squeezing for the quantum resonator modes. Here, we present such coupling schemes between a nanomechanical resonator and a superconducting electrical resonator using applied microwave voltages as well as between two superconducting lumped-element electrical resonators using a r.f. SQUID-mediat…
We theoretically investigate the deflection-induced coupling of an electron spin to vibrational motion due to spin-orbit coupling in suspended carbon nanotube quantum dots. Our estimates indicate that, with current capabilities, a quantum dot with an odd number of electrons can serve as a realization of the Jaynes-Cummings model of quantum electrodynamics in the strong-coupling regime. A quantized flexural mode of the suspended tube plays the role of the optical mode and we identify two distinct two-level subspaces, at small and large magnetic field, which can be used as qubits in this setup. …
Owing to their extraordinary sensitivity to external forces, nanomechanical systems have become important tools for studying a variety of mesoscopic physical systems and realizing hybrid quantum systems. While nanomechanics has been widely applied in solid-state systems, its use in liquid is scantily studied. There it finds unique applications such as biosensing, rheological sensing, and studying fluid dynamics in unexplored regimes. Its use in quantum fluids offers new opportunities in studying fluids at low excitation levels all the way down to the quantum limit and in nano-metric scales rea…
Quantum mechanics demands that the act of measurement must affect the measured object. When a linear amplifier is used to continuously monitor the position of an object, the Heisenberg uncertainty relationship requires that the object be driven by force impulses, called back-action. Here we measure the back-action of a superconducting single-electron transistor (SSET) on a radiofrequency nanomechanical resonator. The conductance of the SSET, which is capacitively coupled to the resonator, provides a sensitive probe of the latter's position;back-action effects manifest themselves as an effectiv…
We describe a qubit encoded in continuous quantum variables of an rf superconducting quantum interference device. Since the number of accessible states in the system is infinite, we may protect its two-dimensional subspace from small errors introduced by the interaction with the environment and during manipulations. We show how to prepare the fault-tolerant state and manipulate the system. The discussed operations suffice to perform quantum computation on the encoded state, syndrome extraction, and quantum error correction. We also comment on the physical sources of errors and possible imperfe…
We demonstrate the use of high-Q superconducting coplanar waveguide (CPW) microresonators to perform rapid manipulations on a randomly distributed spin ensemble using very low microwave power (400 nW). This power is compatible with dilution refrigerators, making microwave manipulation of spin ensembles feasible for quantum computing applications. We also describe the use of adiabatic microwave pulses to overcome microwave magnetic field ($B_{1}$) inhomogeneities inherent to CPW resonators. This allows for uniform control over a randomly distributed spin ensemble. Sensitivity data are reported …
Motivated by a recent experiment [Nadj-Perge et al., Science 346, 602 (2014)] providing evidence for Majorana zero modes in iron chains on the superconducting Pb surface, in the present work, we theoretically propose an all-optical scheme to detect Majorana fermions, which is very different from the current tunneling measurement based on electrical means. The optical detection proposal consists of a quantum dot embedded in a nanomechanical resonator with optical pump-probe technology. With the optical means, the signal in the coherent optical spectrum presents a distinct signature for the exis…
We propose a scheme of strong and tunable coupling between a superconducting phase qubit and nanomechanical torsional resonator. In our scheme the torsional resonator directly modulates the largest energy scale (the Josephson coupling energy) of the phase qubit, and the coupling strength is very large. We analyze the quantum correlation effects in the torsional resonator as a result of the strong coupling to the phase qubit.
We show that the inductive coupling between the quantum mechanical motion of a superconducting microcantilever and a flux-dependent microwave quantum circuit can attain the strong single-photon nanomechanical coupling regime with feasible experimental parameters. We propose to use a superconducting strip, which is in the Meissner state, at the tip of a cantilever. A pick-up coil collects the flux generated by the sheet currents induced by an external quadrupole magnetic field centered at the strip location. The position-dependent magnetic response of the superconducting strip, enhanced by both…
Nanomechanical systems made from phononic crystals can act as highly coherent microwave-frequency circuits at cryogenic temperatures. However, generating sufficient coupling between these devices and microwave superconducting quantum circuits is challenging due to the vastly different length scales of acoustic and electrical excitations. Here we demonstrate a general recipe for calculating these interactions and show that large piezoelectric coupling rates between microwave superconducting circuits containing Josephson junctions and nanoscale phononic resonances are possible, suggesting a rout…
We consider a quantum dot with mechanical degrees of freedom which is coupled to superconducting electrodes. A Josephson current is generated by applying a phase difference. In the absence of coupling to vibrations, this setup was previously proposed as a detector of magnetic flux and we wish here to address the effect of the phonon coupling to this detection scheme. We compute the charge on the quantum dot and determine its dependence on the phase difference in the presence of phonon coupling and Coulomb interaction. This allows to identify regions in parameter space with the highest charge t…
Two-level system fluctuators in superconducting devices have demonstrated coherent coupling with superconducting qubits. Here, we show that universal quantum logic gates can be realized in these two-level systems solely by tuning a superconducting resonator in which they are imbedded. Because of the large energy separation between the fluctuators, conventional gate schemes in the cavity QED approach that are widely used for solid-state qubits cannot be directly applied to the fluctuators. We study a scheme to perform the gate operations by exploiting the controllability of the superconducting …
We combine the ideas of qubit encoding and dispersive dynamics to enable robust and easy quantum information processing (QIP) on paired superconducting charge boxes sharing a common bias lead. We establish a decoherence free subspace on these and introduce universal gates by dispersive interaction with a LC resonator and inductive couplings between the encoded qubits. These gates preserve the code space and only require the established local symmetry and the control of the voltage bias.
Superconducting systems have a long history of use in experiments that push the frontiers of mechanical sensing. This includes both applied and fundamental research, which at present day ranges from quantum computing research and efforts to explore Planck-scale physics to fundamental studies on the nature of motion and the quantum limits on our ability to measure it. In this paper, we first provide a short history of the role of superconducting circuitry and devices in mechanical sensing, focusing primarily on efforts in the last decade to push the study of quantum mechanics to include motion …
A two-component fermion model with conventional two-body interactions was recently shown to have anyonic excitations. We here propose a scheme to physically implement this model by transforming each chain of two two-component fermions to the two capacitively coupled chains of superconducting devices. In particular, we elaborate how to achieve the wanted operations to create and manipulate the topological quantum states, providing an experimentally feasible scenario to access the topological memory and to build the anyonic interferometry.
The Bose Hubbard model (BHM) of interacting bosons in a lattice has been a paradigm in many-body physics, and it exhibits a Mott insulator (MI)-superfluid (SF) transition at integer filling. Here a quantum simulator of the BHM using a superconducting circuit is proposed. Specifically, a superconducting transmission line resonator supporting microwave photons is coupled to a charge qubit to form one site of the BHM, and adjacent sites are connected by a tunable coupler. To obtain a mapping from the superconducting circuit to the BHM, we focus on the dispersive regime where the excitations remai…
Hybrid quantum circuits combine two or more physical systems, with the goal of harnessing the advantages and strengths of the different systems in order to better explore new phenomena and potentially bring about novel quantum technologies. This article presents a brief overview of the progress achieved so far in the field of hybrid circuits involving atoms, spins and solid-state devices (including superconducting and nanomechanical systems). How these circuits combine elements from atomic physics, quantum optics, condensed matter physics, and nanoscience is discussed, and different possible a…
We present an experimental demonstration as well as a theoretical model of an integrated circuit designed for the manipulation of a microwave field down to the single-photon level. The device is made of a superconducting resonator coupled to a transmission line via a second frequency-tunable resonator. The tunable resonator can be used as a tunable coupler between the fixed resonator and the transmission line. Moreover, the manipulation of the microwave field between the two resonators is possible. In particular, we demonstrate the swapping of the field from one resonator to the other by pulsi…
The quantum behaviour of mechanical resonators is a new and emerging field driven by recent experiments reaching the quantum ground state. The high frequency, small mass, and large quality-factor of carbon nanotube resonators make them attractive for quantum nanomechanical applications. A common element in experiments achieving the resonator ground state is a second quantum system, such as coherent photons or superconducting device, coupled to the resonators motion. For nanotubes, however, this is a challenge due to their small size. Here, we couple a carbon nanoelectromechanical (NEMS) device…
Coupled mechanical oscillations were first observed in paired pendulum clocks in the mid-seventeenth century and were extensively studied for their novel sympathetic oscillation dynamics. In this era of nanotechnologies, coupled oscillations have again emerged as subjects of interest when realized in nanomechanical resonators for both practical applications and fundamental studies. However, a key obstacle to the further development of this architecture is the ability to coherently manipulate the coupled oscillations. This limitation arises as a consequence of the usually weak coupling between …
Cavity optomechanics allows the characterization of a vibration mode, its cooling and quantum manipulation using electromagnetic fields. Regarding nanomechanical as well as electronic properties, single wall carbon nanotubes are a prototypical experimental system. At cryogenic temperatures, as high quality factor vibrational resonators, they display strong interaction between motion and single-electron tunneling. Here, we demonstrate large optomechanical coupling of a suspended carbon nanotube quantum dot and a microwave cavity, amplified by several orders of magnitude via the nonlinearity of …
Motivated by recent experimental progress towards the measurement and manipulation of Majorana fermions with superconducting circuits, we propose a device interfacing Majorana fermions with circuit quantum electrodynamics. The proposed circuit acts as a charge parity detector changing the resonance frequency of a superconducting $λ/4$ - resonator conditioned on the parity of charges on nearby gates. Operating at both charge and flux sweet spots, this device is highly insensitive to environmental noise. It enables high-fidelity single-shot quantum non demolition readout of the state of a pair o…
Experiments over the past years have demonstrated that it is possible to bring nanomechanical resonators and superconducting qubits close to the quantum regime and to measure their properties with an accuracy close to the Heisenberg uncertainty limit. Therefore, it is just a question of time before we will routinely see true quantum effects in nanomechanical systems. One of the hallmarks of quantum mechanics is the existence of entangled states. We propose a realistic scenario making it possible to detect entanglement of a mechanical resonator and a qubit in a nanoelectromechanical setup. The …
We show how the superconducting phase difference in a Josephson junction may be used to split the Kramers degeneracy of its energy levels and to remove all the properties associated with time reversal symmetry. The superconducting phase difference is known to be ineffective in two-terminal short Josephson junctions, where irrespective of the junction structure the induced Kramers degeneracy splitting is suppressed and the ground state fermion parity must stay even, so that a protected zero-energy Andreev level crossing may never appear. Our main result is that these limitations can be complete…
We propose and analyze a setup to achieve strong coupling between a single trapped atom and a mechanical oscillator. The interaction between the motion of the atom and the mechanical oscillator is mediated by a quantized light field in a laser driven high-finesse cavity. In particular, we show that high fidelity transfer of quantum states between the atom and the mechanical oscillator is in reach for existing or near future experimental parameters. Our setup provides the basic toolbox for coherent manipulation, preparation and measurement of micro- and nanomechanical oscillators via the tools …
Coherent control of quantum states has been demonstrated in a variety of superconducting devices. In all these devices, the variables that are manipulated are collective electromagnetic degrees of freedom: charge, superconducting phase, or flux. Here, we demonstrate the coherent manipulation of a quantum system based on Andreev bound states, which are microscopic quasiparticle states inherent to superconducting weak links. Using a circuit quantum electrodynamics setup we perform single-shot readout of this "Andreev qubit". We determine its excited state lifetime and coherence time to be in the…
The magneto-transport of a superconducting/ferromagnetic hybrid structure consisting of a superconducting thin film in contact with an array of magnetic nanodots in the so-called "magnetic vortex-state" exhibits interesting properties. For certain magnetic states, the stray magnetic field from the vortex array is intense enough to drive the superconducting film into the normal state. In this fashion, the normal-to-superconducting phase transition can be controlled by the magnetic history. The strong coupling between superconducting and magnetic subsystems allows characteristically ferromagneti…
Engineering nano-mechanical quantum systems possessing ultra-long motional coherence times allow for applications in ultra-sensitive quantum sensing, motional quantum memories and motional interfaces between other carriers of quantum information such as photons, quantum dots and superconducting systems. To achieve ultra-high motional Q one must work hard to remove all forms of motional noise and heating. We examine a magneto-nanomechanical quantum system that consists of a 3D arrangement of miniature superconducting loops which is stably levitated in a static inhomogenous magnetic field. The r…
We show how a single flux quantum can be effectively manipulated in a superconducting film with a matrix of blind holes. Such a sample can serve as a basic memory element, where the position of the vortex in a [k x l] matrix of pinning sites defines the desired combination of n bits of information (2^n=k*l). Vortex placement is achieved by strategically applied current and the resulting position is read-out via generated voltage between metallic contacts on the sample. Such a device can also act as a controllable source of a nanoengineered local magnetic field for e.g. spintronics applications…
An important desired ingredient of superconducting quantum circuits is a readout scheme whose complexity does not increase with the number of qubits involved in the measurement. Here, we present a readout scheme employing a single microwave line, which enables simultaneous readout of multiple qubits. Consequently, scaling up superconducting qubit circuits is no longer limited by the readout apparatus. Parallel readout of 6 flux qubits using a frequency division multiplexing technique is demonstrated, as well as simultaneous manipulation and time resolved measurement of 3 qubits. We discuss how…
Adiabatic manipulation of the quantum state is an essential tool in modern quantum information processing. Here we demonstrate the speed-up of the adiabatic population transfer in a three-level superconducting transmon circuit by suppressing the spurious non-adiabatic excitations with an additional two-photon microwave pulse. We apply this superadiabatic method to the stimulated Raman adiabatic passage, realizing fast and robust population transfer from the ground state to the second excited state of the quantum circuit.