State-of-the-art superconducting qubits rely on a limited set of thin-film materials. Expanding their materials palette can improve performance, extend operating regimes, and introduce new functionalities, but conventional thin-film fabrication hinders systematic exploration of new material combinations. Van der Waals (vdW) materials offer a highly modular crystalline platform that facilitates such exploration while enabling gate-tunability, higher-temperature operation, and compact qubit geometries. Yet it remains unknown whether a fully vdW superconducting qubit can support quantum coherence and what mechanisms dominate loss at both low and elevated temperatures in such a device. Here we demonstrate quantum-coherent merged-element transmons made entirely from vdW Josephson junctions. These first-generation, fully crystalline qubits achieve microsecond lifetimes in an ultra-compact footprint without external shunt capacitors. Energy relaxation measurements, together with microwave characterization of vdW capacitors, point to dielectric loss as the dominant relaxation channel up to hundreds of millikelvin. These results establish vdW materials as a viable platform for compact superconducting quantum devices.
Quantum computers can potentially achieve an exponential speedup versus classical computers on certain computational tasks, as recently demonstrated in systems of superconducting qubits. However, these qubits have large footprints due to their large capacitor electrodes needed to suppress losses by avoiding dielectric materials. This tactic hinders scaling by increasing parasitic coupling among circuit components, degrading individual qubit addressability, and limiting the spatial density of qubits. Here, we take advantage of the unique properties of the van der Waals (vdW) materials to reduce…
Quantum coherence and control is foundational to the science and engineering of quantum systems. In van der Waals (vdW) materials, the collective coherent behavior of carriers has been probed successfully by transport measurements. However, temporal coherence and control, as exemplified by manipulating a single quantum degree of freedom, remains to be verified. Here we demonstrate such coherence and control of a superconducting circuit incorporating graphene-based Josephson junctions. Furthermore, we show that this device can be operated as a voltage-tunable transmon qubit, whose spectrum refl…
Building a scalable quantum computer requires developing appropriate models to understand and verify its complex quantum dynamics. We focus on superconducting quantum processors based on transmons for which full numerical simulations are already challenging at the level of qubytes. It is thus highly desirable to develop accurate methods of modeling qubit networks that do not rely solely on numerical computations. Using systematic perturbation theory to large orders in the transmon regime, we derive precise analytic expressions of the transmon parameters. We apply our results to the case of par…
We introduce a new hybrid qubit consisting of a Majorana qubit interacting with a transmon longitudinally coupled to a resonator. To do so, we equip the longitudinal transmon qubit with topological quasiparticles, supported by an array of heterostructure nanowires, and derive charge- and phase-based interactions between the Majorana qubit and the resonator and transmon degrees of freedom. Inspecting the charge coupling, we demonstrate that the Majorana self-charging can be eliminated by a judicious choice of charge offset, thereby maintaining the Majorana degeneracy regardless of the quasipart…
this study significantly emphasizes on the entanglement engineering using a transmon qubit. A transmon qubit is created with two superconducting islands coupled with two Josephson Junction embedded into a transmission line. The transmon qubit energies are manipulated through its coupling to the transmission line. The key factor here is the coupling factor between transmission line and qubit by which the quantum features of the system such as transmon decay rate, energy dispersion, and related coherence time are controlled. To complete knowledge about the design, the system is quantum mechanica…
The van der Waals interactions between two parallel graphitic nanowiggles (GNWs) are calculated using the coupled dipole method (CDM). The CDM is an efficient and accurate approach to determine such interactions explicitly by taking into account the discrete atomic structure. Our findings show that the van der Waals forces vary from attraction to repulsion as nanoribbons move along their lengths with respect to each other. This feature leads to a number of stable and unstable positions of the system during the movement process. These positions can be tuned by changing the length of GNW. Moreov…
We propose a circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) realization of a protocol to generate a Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state for $N$ superconducting transmon qubits homogeneously coupled to a superconducting transmission line resonator in the dispersive limit. We derive an effective Hamiltonian with pairwise qubit exchange interactions of the XY type, $\tilde{g}(XX+YY)$, that can be globally controlled. Starting from a separable initial state, these interactions allow to generate a multi-qubit GHZ state within a time $t_{\text{GHZ}}\sim \tilde{g}^{-1}$. We discuss how to probe the non-lo…
Using circuit QED, we consider the measurement of a superconducting transmon qubit via a coupled microwave resonator. For ideally dispersive coupling, ringing up the resonator produces coherent states with frequencies matched to transmon energy states. Realistic coupling is not ideally dispersive, however, so transmon-resonator energy levels hybridize into joint eigenstate ladders of the Jaynes-Cummings type. Previous work has shown that ringing up the resonator approximately respects this ladder structure to produce a coherent state in the eigenbasis (a dressed coherent state). We numerically…
We predict a discriminatory interaction between a chiral molecule and an achiral molecule which is mediated by a chiral body. To achieve this, we generalize the van der Waals interaction potential between two ground-state molecules with electric, magnetic and chiral response to non-trivial environments. The force is evaluated using second-order perturbation theory with an effective Hamiltonian. Chiral media enhance or reduce the free interaction via many-body interactions, making it possible to measure the chiral contributions to the van der Waals force with current technology. The van der Waa…
We derive a first--principles method of determining the van der Waals or Casimir pressure in a dissipative and dispersive planar multilayered system by calculating the Maxwell stress tensor in a fictitious layer of vacuum, that is eventually made to vanish, introduced in the structure. This is illustrated by calculating the van der Waals pressure in a thin film with dissipative properties embedded between two semi--infinite media.
The Lifshitz-type formulas describing the free energy and the force of the van der Waals interaction between an atom (molecule) and a single-wall carbon nanotube are obtained. The single-wall nanotube is considered as a cylindrical sheet carrying a two-dimensional free electron gas with appropriate boundary conditions on the electromagnetic field. The obtained formulas are used to calculate the van der Waals free energy and force between a hydrogen atom (molecule) and single-wall carbon nanotubes of different radia. Comparison studies of the van der Waals interaction of hydrogen atoms with sin…
The van der Waals interaction between two polarizable atoms is considered. In three dimensions the standard form with an attractive $1/|R|^6$ potential is obtained from second-order quantum perturbation theory. When the electron motion is restricted to lower dimensions (but the $1/|R|$ Coulomb potential is retained), new terms in the expansion appear and alter both the sign and the $|R|$ dependence of the interaction.
We study theoretically the van der Waals interaction between two atoms out of equilibrium with isotropic electromagnetic field. We demonstrate that at large interatomic separations, the van der Waals forces are resonant, spatially oscillating and non-reciprocal due to resonance absorption and emission of virtual photons. We suggest that the van der Waals forces can be controlled and manipulated by tuning the spectrum of artificially created random light.
Quantum battery (QB) is the miniature energy storage and release device and plays a crucial role in future quantum technology. Here, an implementation scheme of a QB is proposed on a superconducting circuit which is composed by $N$ coupled transmon qubits and a one-dimensional transmission line resonator. We derive the Hamiltonian of the QB system and investigate its charging performance by considering three decay channels. We find that the presence of the decay channels suppresses the high oscillation of the energy storage process, thereby realizing a stable and powerful QB. In particular, co…
Simulations and analytical calculations that aim to describe flux-tunable transmons are usually based on effective models of the corresponding lumped-element model. However, when a control pulse is applied, in most cases it is not known how much the predictions made with the effective models deviate from the predictions made with the original lumped-element model. In this work we compare the numerical solutions of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation for both the effective and the lumped-element models, for microwave and unimodal control pulses (external fluxes). These control pulses are us…
A new implementation is proposed for including van der Waals interactions in Density Functional Theory using the Maximally-Localized Wannier functions. With respect to the previous DFT/vdW-WF method, the present DFT/vdW-WF2 approach, which is based on the simpler London expression and takes into account the intrafragment overlap of the localized Wannier functions, leads to a considerable improvement in the evaluation of the $C_6$ van der Waals coefficients, as shown by the application to a set of selected dimers. Preliminary results on Ar on graphite and Ne on the Cu(111) metal surface suggest…
Assemblies of Rydberg atoms subject to resonant dipole-dipole interactions form Frenkel excitons. We show that van-der-Waals shifts can significantly modify the exciton wave function, whenever atoms approach each other closely. As a result, attractive excitons and repulsive van-der-Waals interactions can be combined to form stable one-dimensional atom chains, akin to bound aggregates. Here the van-der-Waals shifts ensure a stronger homogeneous delocalisation of a single excitation over the whole chain, enabling it to bind up to six atoms. When brought into unstable configurations, such Rydberg…
The van der Waals interaction between two ground-state atoms is calculated for two electrically or magnetically polarizable particles embedded in a dispersive magneto-dielectric medium. Unlike previous calculations which infer the atom-atom interaction from the dilute-medium limit of the macroscopic, many-body van der Waals interaction, the interaction is calculated directly for the system of two atoms in a magneto-dielectric medium. Two approaches are presented, the first based on the quantized electromagnetic field in a dispersive medium without absorption and the second on Green functions t…
Time evolution of entanglement of N quantum dots is analyzed within the spin-1/2 van der Waals (or Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick) XY model. It is shown that, for a single dot initially excited and disentangled from the remaining unexcited dots, the maximum bipartite entanglement can be obtained in the systems of N=2,...,6 dots only.
We obtained new nonrelativistic expression for the dynamical van der Waals atom -surface interaction energy of very convenient form for different applications. It is shown that classical result (Ferrell and Ritchie, 1980) holds only for a very slowly moving atom. In general case, the van der Waals atom -surface interaction energy manifests strong nonlinear dependence on velocity and distance. In close vicinity of metal and dielectric surfaces and velocities from 1 to 10 Bohr units the dynamical van der Waals potential proves to be significantly lower that in static case and goes to the static …
We consider the the van der Waals force involving excited atoms in general environments, constituted by magnetodielectric bodies. We develop a dynamical approach studying the dynamics of the atoms and the field, mutually coupled. When only one atom is excited, our dynamical theory suggests that for large distances the van der Waals force acting on the ground-state atom is monotonic, while the force acting in the excited atom is spatially oscillating. We show how this latter force can be related to the known oscillating Casimir--Polder force on an excited atom near a (ground-state) body. Our fo…
Based on macroscopic quantum electrodynamics in linearly and causally responding media, we study the local-field corrected van der Waals potentials and forces for unpolarized ground-state atoms placed within a magnetoelectric medium of arbitrary size and shape. We start from general expressions for the van der Waals potentials in terms of the (classical) Green tensor of the electromagnetic field and the atomic polarizability and incorporate the local-field correction by means of the real-cavity model. In this context, special emphasis is given to the decomposition of the Green tensor into a me…
Incorporating multi-qubit exchange coupling effects between transmon qubits in Maxwell-Schrödinger numerical methods
Elmore Family School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Purdue University（普渡大学埃尔莫电气与计算机工程学院）；Purdue Quantum Science and Engineering Institute, Purdue University（普渡大学量子科学与工程研究所）
The universal aspects of atom-dimer elastic collisions are investigated within the framework of Faddeev equations. The two-body interactions between the neutral atoms are approximated by the separable potential approach. Our analysis considers a pure van der Waals potential tail as well as soft-core van der Waals interactions permitting us in this manner to address the universally general features of atom-dimer resonant spectra. In particular, we show that the atom-dimer resonances are solely associated with the {\it excited} Efimov states. Furthermore, the positions of the corresponding reson…
We compute the conservative van-der-Waals forces between two atoms, one of which is initially excited, in the limit of identical atoms. Starting with the perturbative calculation of the interaction between two dissimilar atoms, we show that a time-dependent approach in the weak-interaction approximation is essential in considering the identical atoms limit in the perturbative regime. In this limit we find that, at leading order, the van-der-Waals forces are fully-resonant and grow linearly in time, being different upon each atom. The resultant net force upon the two-atom system is related to t…
In this paper, dedicated to the career of Iver Brevik, we review the derivation of the retarded van der Waals or Casimir-Polder interaction between polarizable molecules from the general multiple scattering formulation of Casimir interactions between bodies. We then apply this van der Waals potential to examine the interaction between tenuous cylindrical bodies, including eccentric cylinders, and revisit the vanishing self-energy of a tenuous dielectric cylinder. In each case, closed-form expressions are obtained.
This Resource Letter provides a guide to the literature on van der Waals and Casimir-Polder forces. Journal articles, books, and other documents are cited on the following topics: van der Waals forces, retarded dispersion forces or Casimir-Polder forces between atoms or molecules, Casimir-Polder forces between a molecule and a dielectric or conducting body, the summation of Casimir-Polder forces as leading to the Casimir and Lifshitz forces between conducting and dielectric bodies, Casimir friction, applications to nanotechnology, the nature of the quantum vacuum, and experimental tests of the…
Quantum Monte Carlo estimates of the spectrum of rotationally invariant states of noble gas clusters suggest inter-dimensional degeneracy in $N-1$ and $N+1$ spacial dimensions. We derive this property by mapping the Schrödinger eigenvalue problem onto an eigenvalue equation in which $D$ appears as a continuous variable. We discuss implications for quantum Monte Carlo and dimensional scaling methods.
The van der Waals and Casimir interactions of a hydrogen atom (molecule) with a single-walled and a multiwalled carbon nanotubes are compared. It is shown that the macroscopic concept of graphite dielectric permittivity is already applicable for nanotubes with only two or three walls. The absorption of hydrogen atoms by a nanotube at separations below one nanometer is considered. The lateral force due to exchange repulsion moves the atom to a position above the cell center, where it is absorbed by the nanotube because the repulsive force cannot balance the van der Waals attraction.
