Variational quantum simulation of thermal statistical states on a superconducting quantum processer

Quantum computers promise to solve finite-temperature properties of quantum many-body systems,which is generally challenging for classical computers due to high computational complexities.Here,we report experimental preparations of Gibbs states and excited states of Heisenberg X X and X X Z models by using a 5-qubit programmable superconducting processor.In the experiments,we apply a hybrid quantum–classical algorithm to generate finite temperature states with classical probability models and variational quantum circuits.We reveal that the Hamiltonians can be fully diagonalized with optimized quantum circuits,which enable us to prepare excited states at arbitrary energy density.We demonstrate that the approach has a self-verifying feature and can estimate fundamental thermal observables with a small statistical error.Based on numerical results,we further show that the time complexity of our approach scales polynomially in the number of qubits,revealing its potential in solving large-scale problems.

Calibration and cancellation of microwave crosstalk in superconducting circuits

The precise control and manipulation of the qubit state are vital for quantum simulation and quantum computation.In superconducting circuits,one notorious error comes from the crosstalk of microwave signals applied to different qubit control lines.In this work,we present a method for the calibration and cancellation of the microwave crosstalk and experimentally demonstrate its effectiveness in a superconducting 10-qubit chain.The method is convenient and efficient especially for calibrating the microwave crosstalk with large amplitudes and variations,which can be performed successively to reduce the microwave crosstalk by two to three orders.The qubit chain with microwave driving is governed by one-dimensional(1D)Bose-Hubbard model in transverse field,which is nonintegrable and shows thermalization behaviour during the time evolution from certain initial states.Such thermalization process is observed with excellent agreement between experiment and theory further confirming the effective global cancellation of the microwave crosstalk.

Cavity-induced ATS effect on a superconducting Xmon qubit

We couple a ladder-type three-level superconducting artificial atom to a cavity. Adjusting the artificial atom to make the cavity be resonant with the two upper levels, we then probe the lower two levels of the artificial atom. When driving the cavity to a coherent state, the probe spectrum shows energy level splitting induced by the quantized electromagnetic field in the cavity. This splitting size is related to the coupling strength between the cavity and the artificial atom and, thus, is fixed after the sample is fabricated. This is in contrast to the classical Autler-Townes splitting of a three-level system in which the splitting is proportional to the driving amplitude, which can be continuously changed. Our experiment results show the difference between the classical microwave driving field and the quantum field of the cavity.

Observation of the exceptional point in superconducting qubit with dissipation controlled by parametric modulation

Open physical systems described by the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian with parity-time-reversal(PT)symmetry show peculiar phenomena,such as the presence of an exceptional point(EP)at which the PT symmetry is broken and two resonant modes of the Hamiltonian become degenerate.Near the EP,the system could be more sensitive to external perturbations and this may lead to enhanced sensing.In this paper,we present experimental results on the observation of PT symmetry broken transition and the EP using a tunable superconducting qubit.The quantum system of investigation is formed by the two levels of the qubit and the energy loss of the system to the environment is controlled by a method of parametric modulation of the qubit frequency.This method is simple with no requirements for additional elements or qubit device modifications.We believe it can be easily implemented on multi-qubit devices that would be suitable for further exploration of non-Hermitian physics in more complex and diverse systems.

Hardware for multi-superconducting qubit control and readout

We have developed an electronic hardware system for the control and readout of multi-superconducting qubit devices.The hardware system is based on the design ideas of good scalability,high synchronization and low latency.The system,housed inside a VPX-6U chassis,includes multiple arbitrary-waveform generator(AWG)channels,analog-digital-converter(ADC)channels as well as direct current source channels.The system can be used for the control and readout of up to twelve superconducting transmon qubits in one chassis,and control and readout of more and more qubit can be carried out by interconnecting the chassis.By using field programmable gate array(FPGA)processors,the system incorporates three features that are specifically useful for superconducting qubit research.Firstly,qubit signals can be processed using the on-board FPGA after being acquired by ADCs,significantly reducing data processing time and data amount for storage and transmission.Secondly,different output modes,such as direct output and sequential output modes,of AWG can be implemented with pre-encoded FPGA.Thirdly,with data acquisition ADCs and control AWGs jointly controlled by the same FPGA,the feedback latency can be reduced,and in our test a 178.4 ns latency time is realized.This is very useful for future quantum feedback experiments.Finally,we demonstrate the functionality of the system by applying the system to the control and readout of a 10 qubit superconducting quantum processor.

Fringe visibility and correlation in Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter

We study the wave–particle duality in a general Mach–Zehnder interferometer with an asymmetric beam splitter from the viewpoint of quantum information theory.The correlations(including the classical correlation and the quantum correlation)between the particle and the which-path detector are derived when they are in pure state or mixed state at the output of Mach–Zehnder interferometer.It is found that the fringe visibility and the correlations are effected by the asymmetric beam splitter and the input state of the particle.The complementary relations between the fringe visibility and the correlations are also presented.

Measuring Loschmidt echo via Floquet engineering in superconducting circuits

The Loschmidt echo is a useful diagnostic for the perfection of quantum time-reversal process and the sensitivity of quantum evolution to small perturbations. The main challenge for measuring the Loschmidt echo is the time reversal of a quantum evolution. In this work, we demonstrate the measurement of the Loschmidt echo in a superconducting 10-qubit system using Floquet engineering and discuss the imperfection of an initial Bell-state recovery arising from the next-nearestneighbor(NNN) coupling present in the qubit device. Our results show that the Loschmidt echo is very sensitive to small perturbations during quantum-state evolution, in contrast to the quantities like qubit population that is often considered in the time-reversal experiment. These properties may be employed for the investigation of multiqubit system concerning many-body decoherence and entanglement, etc., especially when devices with reduced or vanishing NNN coupling are used.

Investigation of dimensionality in superconducting NbN thin film samples with different thicknesses and NbTiN meander nanowire samples by measuring the upper critical field

We study superconducting properties of NbN thin film samples with different thicknesses and an ultra-thin NbTiN meander nanowire sample.For the ultra-thin samples,we found that the temperature dependence of upper critical field(Hc2)in parallel to surface orientation shows bending curvature close to critical temperature Tc,suggesting a two-dimensional(2D)nature of the samples.The 2D behavior is further supported by the angular dependence measurements of Hc2 for the thinnest samples.The temperature dependence of parallel upper critical field for the thick films could be described by a model based on the anisotropic Ginzburg-Landau theory.Interestingly,the results measured in the field perpendicular to the film surface orientation show a similar bending curvature but in a much narrow temperature region close to Tc for the ultra-thin samples.We suggest that this feature could be due to suppression of pair-breaking caused by local in-homogeneity.We further propose the temperature dependence of perpendicular Hc2 as a measure of uniformity of superconducting ultra-thin films.For the thick samples,we find that Hc2 shows maxima for both parallel and perpendicular orientations.The Hc2 peak for the perpendicular orientation is believed to be due to the columnar structure formed during the growth of the thick films.The presence of columnar structure is confirmed by transmission electron microscopy(TEM).In addition,we have measured the angular dependence of magneto-resistance,and the results are consistent with the Hc2 data.

Fabrication of Josephson parameter amplifier and its application in squeezing vacuum fluctuations

Josephson parameter amplifier(JPA)is a microwave signal amplifier device with near-quantum-limit-noise performance.It has important applications in scientific research fields such as quantum computing and dark matter detection.This work reports the fabrication and characterization of broadband JPA devices and their applications in multi-qubit readout and squeezing of vacuum state.We use a process in which transmission lines and electrodes are made of niobium thin film and aluminum Josephson junctions are made by Dolan bridge technique.We believe this process is more convenient than the process we used previously.The whole production process adopts electron beam lithography technology to ensure high structural resolution.The test result shows that the gain value of the manufactured JPA can exceed 15 dB,and the amplification bandwidth is about 400 MHz.The noise temperature is about 400 mK at the working frequency of 6.2 GHz.The devices have been successfully used in experiments involving superconducting multi-qubit quantum processors.Furthermore,the device is applied to squeeze vacuum fluctuations and a squeezing level of 1.635 dB is achieved.

Calibration of the cryogenic measurement system of a resonant haloscope cavity

Possible light bosonic dark matter interactions with the Standard Model photon have been searched using microwave resonant cavities.In this paper,we describe the cryogenic readout system calibration of a 7.138 GHz copper cavity with a loaded quality factorQ1=10^(4)whose operation at a temperature of 22 mK is based on a dilution refrigerator.Our readout system consists of High Electron Mobility Transistors working as cryogenic amplifiers at 4 K,plus room-temperature amplifiers and a spectrum analyzer for signal power detection.We tested the system with a superconducting two-level system based on a single-photon source in the microwave frequency regime.We obtained an overall 95.6 dB system gain and–71.4 dB attenuation in the cavity's input channel.The effective noise temperature of the measurement system is 7.5 K.