Latest Papers

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 imperfections while manipulating the system.

In this paper, we study the dissipative dynamics of the Jaynes-Cummings model with phase damping in the presence of a classical homogeneous gravitational field. The model consists of a moving two-level atom simultaneously exposed to the gravitational field and a single-mode traveling radiation field in the presence of the phase damping. We present a quantum treatment of the internal and external dynamics of the atom based on an alternative su(2) dynamical algebraic structure. By making use of the super-operator technique, we obtain the solution of the master equation for the density operator of the quantum system, under the Markovian approximation. Assuming that initially the radiation field is prepared in a Glauber coherent state and the two-level atom is in the excited state, we investigate the influence of gravity on the temporal evolution of collapses and revivals of the atomic population inversion, atomic dipole squeezing, atomic momentum diffusion, photon counting statistics and quadrature squeezing of the radiation field in the presence of phase damping.

The temporal evolution of quantum statistical properties of an interacting atom-radiation field system in the presence of a classical homogeneous gravitational field is investigated within the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model. To analyse the dynamical evolution of the atom-radiation system a quantum treatment of the internal and external dynamics of the atom is presented based on an alternative su(2) dynamical algebraic structure. By solving the Schrödinger equation in the interaction picture, the evolving state of the system is found by which the influence of the gravitational field on the dynamical behavior of the atom-radiation system is explored. Assuming that initially the radiation field is prepared in a coherent state and the two-level atom is in a coherent superposition of the excited and ground states, the influence of gravity on the collapses and revivals of the atomic population inversion, atomic dipole squeezing, atomic momentum diffusion, photon counting statistics and quadrature squeezing of the radiation field is studied.

By using a wave packet approach, this paper reviews the Jaynes-Cummings model with and without the rotating wave approximation in a non-standard way. This gives new insight, not only of the two models themselves, but of the rotating wave approximation as well. Expressing the models by field quadrature operators, instead of the typically used boson ladder operators, wave packet simulations are presented. Several known phenomena of these systems, such as collapse-revivals, Rabi oscillation, squeezing and entanglement, are reviewed and explained in this new picture, either in an adiabatic or diabatic frame. The harmonic shape of the potential curves that the wave packets evolve on and the existence of a level crossing make these results interesting in a broader sense than only for models in quantum optics, especially in atomic and molecular physics.

We consider a superconducting charge qubit coupled to distinct orthogonal electromagnetic field modes belonging to a coplanar wave guide and a microstrip transmission line resonators. This architecture allows the simultaneous implementation of a Jaynes-Cummings and anti-Jaynes-Cummings dynamics, a resonant method for generating mesoscopic qubit-field superpositions and for field-state reconstruction. Furthermore, we utilize this setup to propose a field measurement technique that is, in principle, robust to qubit dephasing and field relaxation due to a fast pre-measurement.

We theoretically study single and two-qubit dynamics in the circuit QED architecture. We focus on the current experimental design [Wallraff et al., Nature 431, 162 (2004); Schuster et al., Nature 445, 515 (2007)] in which superconducting charge qubits are capacitively coupled to a single high-Q superconducting coplanar resonator. In this system, logical gates are realized by driving the resonator with microwave fields. Advantages of this architecture are that it allows for multi-qubit gates between non-nearest qubits and for the realization of gates in parallel, opening the possibility of fault-tolerant quantum computation with superconduting circuits. In this paper, we focus on one and two-qubit gates that do not require moving away from the charge-degeneracy `sweet spot'. This is advantageous as it helps to increase the qubit dephasing time and does not require modification of the original circuit QED. However these gates can, in some cases, be slower than those that do not use this constraint. Five types of two-qubit gates are discussed, these include gates based on virtual photons, real excitation of the resonator and a gate based on the geometric phase. We also point out the importance of selection rules when working at the charge degeneracy point.

Classes of (p,q)-deformations of the Jaynes-Cummings model in the rotating wave approximation are considered. Diagonalization of the Hamiltonian is performed exactly, leading to useful spectral decompositions of a series of relevant operators. The latter include ladder operators acting between adjacent energy eigenstates within two separate infinite discrete towers, except for a singleton state. These ladder operators allow for the construction of (p,q)-deformed vector coherent states. Using (p,q)-arithmetics, explicit and exact solutions to the associated moment problem are displayed, providing new classes of coherent states for such models. Finally, in the limit of decoupled spin sectors, our analysis translates into (p,q)-deformations of the supersymmetric harmonic oscillator, such that the two supersymmetric sectors get intertwined through the action of the ladder operators as well as in the associated coherent states.

In this paper we provide a microscopic derivation of the master equation for the Jaynes-Cummings model with cavity losses. We single out both the differences with the phenomenological master equation used in the literature and the approximations under which the phenomenological model correctly describes the dynamics of the atom-cavity system. Some examples wherein the phenomenological and the microscopic master equations give rise to different predictions are discussed in detail.

The superconducting charge-phase `Quantronium' qubit is considered in order to develop a model for the measurement process used in the experiment of Vion et. al. [Science 296 886 (2002)]. For this model we propose a method for including the bias current in the read-out process in a fundamentally irreversible way, which to first order, is approximated by the Josephson junction tilted-washboard potential phenomenology. The decohering bias current is introduced in the form of a Lindblad operator and the Wigner function for the current biased read-out Josephson junction is derived and analyzed. During the read-out current pulse used in the Quantronium experiment we find that the coherence of the qubit initially prepared in a symmetric superposition state is lost at a time of 0.2 nanoseconds after the bias current pulse has been applied. A timescale which is much shorter than the experimental readout time. Additionally we look at the effect of Johnson-Nyquist noise with zero mean from the current source during the qubit manipulation and show that the decoherence due to the irreversible bias current description is an order of magnitude smaller than that found through adding noise to the reversible tilted washboard potential model. Our irreversible bias current model is also applicable to the persistent current based qubits where the state is measured according to its flux via a small inductance direct current superconducting quantum interference device (DC-SQUID).

We study the decoherence of a superconducting qubit due to the dispersive coupling to a damped harmonic oscillator. We go beyond the weak qubit-oscillator coupling, which we associate with a phase Purcell effect, and enter into a strong coupling regime, with qualitatively different behavior of the dephasing rate. We identify and give a physicaly intuitive discussion of both decoherence mechanisms. Our results can be applied, with small adaptations, to a large variety of other physical systems, e. g. trapped ions and cavity QED, boosting theoretical and experimental decoherence studies.

We study a qubit undergoing Landau-Zener transitions enabled by the coupling to a circuit-QED mode. Summing an infinite-order perturbation series, we determine the exact nonadiabatic transition probability for the qubit, being independent of the frequency of the QED mode. Possible applications are single-photon generation and the controllable creation of qubit-oscillator entanglement.

We study the entanglement properties of a pair of two-level atoms going through a cavity one after another. The initial joint state of two successive atoms that enter the cavity is unentangled. Interactions mediated by the cavity photon field result in the final two-atom state being of a mixed entangled type. We consider the field statistics of the Fock state field, and the thermal field, respectively, inside the cavity. The entanglement of formation of the joint two-atom state is calculated for both these cases as a function of the Rabi-angle $gt$. We present a comparitive study of two-atom entanglement for low and high mean photon number cases corresponding to the different fields statistics.

We demonstrate a universal physical mechanism to probe the macroscopic quantum phase transition based on circuit QED architecture. We found that, with certain parameters, the Josephson junction qubit array behaves as an antiferromagnetic Ising model in transverse field and the coupled transmission line resonator serves as a bosonic quantum probe. Our investigation shows that, at the critical point, the drastic broadening of the spectrum of the probe indicates the quantum phase transition.

We investigate entanglement dynamics of two isolated atoms, each in its own Jaynes-Cummings cavity. We show analytically that initial entanglement has an interesting subsequent time evolution, including the so-called sudden death effect.

We demonstrate high-contrast state detection of a superconducting flux qubit. Detection is realized by probing the microwave transmission of a nonlinear resonator, based on a SQUID. Depending on the driving strength of the resonator, the detector can be operated in the monostable or the bistable mode. The bistable operation combines high-sensitivity with intrinsic latching. The measured contrast of Rabi oscillations is as high as 87 %; of the missing 13 %, only 3 % is unaccounted for. Experiments involving two consecutive detection pulses are consistent with preparation of the qubit state by the first measurement.

Adopting the framework of the Jaynes-Cummings model with an external quantum field, we obtain exact analytical expressions of the normally ordered moments for any kind of cavity and driving fields. Such analytical results are expressed in the integral form, with their integrands having a commom term that describes the product of the Glauber-Sudarshan quasiprobability distribution functions for each field, and a kernel responsible for the entanglement. Considering a specific initial state of the tripartite system, the normally ordered moments are then applied to investigate not only the squeezing effect and the nonlocal correlation measure based on the total variance of a pair of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen type operators for continuous variable systems, but also the Shchukin-Vogel criterion. This kind of numerical investigation constitutes the first quantitative characterization of the entanglement properties for the driven Jaynes-Cummings model.

Cavity quantum electrodynamic (QED) is studied for two strongly-coupled charge qubits interacting with a single-mode quantized field, which is provided by a on-chip transmission line resonator. We analyze the dressed state structure of this superconducting circuit QED system and the selection rules of electromagnetic-induced transitions between any two of these dressed states. Its macroscopic quantum criticality, in the form of ground state level crossing, is also analyzed, resulting from competition between the Ising-type inter-qubit coupling and the controllable on-site potentials.

In this paper we study the evolution of the two two-level atoms interacting with a single-mode quantized radiation field, namely, two-atom multiphoton Jaynes-Cummings model when the radiation field and atoms are initially prepared in the superpostion of displaced number states and excited atomic states, respectively. For this system we investigate the atomic inversion, Wigner function, phase distribution and entanglement.

We discuss the origin of decoherence in Josephson junction qubits. We find that two level systems in the surrounding insulator cannot be the dominant source of noise in small qubits. We argue that electron traps in the Josephson barrier with large Coulomb repulsion would give noise that agrees both in magnitude and in temperature dependence with experimental data.

The method of perturbative expansion of master equation is employed to study the dissipative properties of system and of atom in the two-photon Jaynes-Cummings model (JCM) with degenerate atomic levels. The numerical results show that the degeneracy of atomic levels prolongs the period of entanglement between the atom and the field. The asymptotic value of atomic linear entropy is apparently increased by the degeneration. The amplitude of local entanglement and disentanglement is suppressed. The better the initial coherence property of the degenerate atom, the larger the coherence loss.