Superconducting Qubit Based on Twisted Cuprate Van der Waals Heterostructures

Van-der-Waals assembly enables the fabrication of novel Josephson junctions featuring an atomically sharp interface between two exfoliated and relatively twisted Bi_{2}Sr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{8+x} (Bi2212) flakes. In a range of twist angles around 45°, the junction provides a regime where the interlayer two-Cooper pair tunneling dominates the current-phase relation. Here we propose employing this novel junction to realize a capacitively shunted qubit that we call flowermon. The d-wave nature of the order parameter endows the flowermon with inherent protection against charge-noise-induced relaxation and quasiparticle-induced dissipation. This inherently protected qubit paves the way to a new class of high-coherence hybrid superconducting quantum devices based on unconventional superconductors.

The Magnetic Genome of Two-Dimensional van der Waals Materials

Magnetism in two-dimensional (2D) van der Waals (vdW) materials has recently emerged as one of the most promising areas in condensed matter research, with many exciting emerging properties and significant potential for applications ranging from topological magnonics to low-power spintronics, quantum computing, and optical communications. In the brief time after their discovery, 2D magnets have blossomed into a rich area for investigation, where fundamental concepts in magnetism are challenged by the behavior of spins that can develop at the single layer limit. However, much effort is still needed in multiple fronts before 2D magnets can be routinely used for practical implementations. In this comprehensive review, prominent authors with expertise in complementary fields of 2D magnetism (i.e., synthesis, device engineering, magneto-optics, imaging, transport, mechanics, spin excitations, and theory and simulations) have joined together to provide a genome of current knowledge and a guideline for future developments in 2D magnetic materials research.

High-energy quasiparticle injection into mesoscopic superconductors

At non-zero temperatures, superconductors contain excitations known as Bogoliubov quasiparticles (QPs). The mesoscopic dynamics of QPs inform the design of quantum information processors, among other devices. Knowledge of these dynamics stems from experiments in which QPs are injected in a controlled fashion, typically at energies comparable to the pairing energy^1-5. Here we perform tunnel spectroscopy of a mesoscopic superconductor under high electric fields. We observe QP injection due to field-emitted electrons with 10⁶ times the pairing energy, an unexplored regime of QP dynamics. Upon application of a gate voltage, the QP injection decreases the critical current and, at sufficiently high electric field, a field-emission current (<0.1 nA in our device) switches the mesoscopic superconductor into the normal state, consistent with earlier observations⁶. We expect that high-energy injection will be useful for developing QP-tolerant quantum information processors, will allow rapid control of resonator quality factors and will enable the design of electric-field-controlled superconducting devices with new functionality.

Continuous Quantum Nondemolition Measurement of the Transverse Component of a Qubit

Quantum jumps of a qubit are usually observed between its energy eigenstates, also known as its longitudinal pseudospin component. Is it possible, instead, to observe quantum jumps between the transverse superpositions of these eigenstates? We answer positively by presenting the first continuous quantum nondemolition measurement of the transverse component of an individual qubit. In a circuit QED system irradiated by two pump tones, we engineer an effective Hamiltonian whose eigenstates are the transverse qubit states, and a dispersive measurement of the corresponding operator. Such transverse component measurements are a useful tool in the driven-dissipative operation engineering toolbox, which is central to quantum simulation and quantum error correction.

Single-Photon-Resolved Cross-Kerr Interaction for Autonomous Stabilization of Photon-Number States

Quantum states can be stabilized in the presence of intrinsic and environmental losses by either applying an active feedback condition on an ancillary system or through reservoir engineering. Reservoir engineering maintains a desired quantum state through a combination of drives and designed entropy evacuation. We propose and implement a quantum-reservoir engineering protocol that stabilizes Fock states in a microwave cavity. This protocol is realized with a circuit quantum electrodynamics platform where a Josephson junction provides direct, nonlinear coupling between two superconducting waveguide cavities. The nonlinear coupling results in a single-photon-resolved cross-Kerr effect between the two cavities enabling a photon-number-dependent coupling to a lossy environment. The quantum state of the microwave cavity is discussed in terms of a net polarization and is analyzed by a measurement of its steady state Wigner function.

Non-Poissonian quantum jumps of a fluxonium qubit due to quasiparticle excitations

As the energy relaxation time of superconducting qubits steadily improves, nonequilibrium quasiparticle excitations above the superconducting gap emerge as an increasingly relevant limit for qubit coherence. We measure fluctuations in the number of quasiparticle excitations by continuously monitoring the spontaneous quantum jumps between the states of a fluxonium qubit, in conditions where relaxation is dominated by quasiparticle loss. Resolution on the scale of a single quasiparticle is obtained by performing quantum nondemolition projective measurements within a time interval much shorter than T₁, using a quantum-limited amplifier (Josephson parametric converter). The quantum jump statistics switches between the expected Poisson distribution and a non-Poissonian one, indicating large relative fluctuations in the quasiparticle population, on time scales varying from seconds to hours. This dynamics can be modified controllably by injecting quasiparticles or by seeding quasiparticle-trapping vortices by cooling down in a magnetic field.

Autonomously stabilized entanglement between two superconducting quantum bits

Quantum error correction codes are designed to protect an arbitrary state of a multi-qubit register from decoherence-induced errors, but their implementation is an outstanding challenge in the development of large-scale quantum computers. The first step is to stabilize a non-equilibrium state of a simple quantum system, such as a quantum bit (qubit) or a cavity mode, in the presence of decoherence. This has recently been accomplished using measurement-based feedback schemes. The next step is to prepare and stabilize a state of a composite system. Here we demonstrate the stabilization of an entangled Bell state of a quantum register of two superconducting qubits for an arbitrary time. Our result is achieved using an autonomous feedback scheme that combines continuous drives along with a specifically engineered coupling between the two-qubit register and a dissipative reservoir. Similar autonomous feedback techniques have been used for qubit reset, single-qubit state stabilization, and the creation and stabilization of states of multipartite quantum systems. Unlike conventional, measurement-based schemes, the autonomous approach uses engineered dissipation to counteract decoherence, obviating the need for a complicated external feedback loop to correct errors. Instead, the feedback loop is built into the Hamiltonian such that the steady state of the system in the presence of drives and dissipation is a Bell state, an essential building block for quantum information processing. Such autonomous schemes, which are broadly applicable to a variety of physical systems, as demonstrated by the accompanying paper on trapped ion qubits, will be an essential tool for the implementation of quantum error correction.

Cavity-assisted quantum bath engineering

We demonstrate quantum bath engineering for a superconducting artificial atom coupled to a microwave cavity. By tailoring the spectrum of microwave photon shot noise in the cavity, we create a dissipative environment that autonomously relaxes the atom to an arbitrarily specified coherent superposition of the ground and excited states. In the presence of background thermal excitations, this mechanism increases state purity and effectively cools the dressed atom state to a low temperature.