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Quantum superposition of a single microwave photon in two different ’colour’ states

Nature Physics volume 7, pages 599–603 (2011)Cite this article

Abstract

Fully controlled coherent coupling of arbitrary harmonic oscillators is an important tool for processing quantum information1. Coupling between quantum harmonic oscillators has previously been demonstrated in several physical systems using a two-level system as a mediating element2,3. Direct interaction at the quantum level has only recently been realized by means of resonant coupling between trapped ions4,5. Here we implement a tunable direct coupling between the microwave harmonics of a superconducting resonator by means of parametric frequency conversion6,7. We accomplish this by coupling the mode currents of two harmonics through a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) and modulating its flux at the difference (∼7 GHz) of the harmonic frequencies. We deterministically prepare a single-photon Fock state8 and coherently manipulate it between multiple modes, effectively controlling it in a superposition of two different ’colours’. This parametric interaction can be described as a beamsplitter-like operation that couples different frequency modes. As such, it could be used to implement linear optical quantum computing protocols9,10 on-chip11.

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Figure 1: Device description and spectroscopy.
Figure 2: Spectroscopy of parametrically coupled cavity modes and one-photon Rabi-swap oscillations.
Figure 3: Single-photon Ramsey interferences.
Figure 4: Dependence of the coupling rate with the SQUID flux.

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Acknowledgements

We thank N. Bergren and L. Ranzani for technical help, and J. Park, F. Altomare and L. Spietz for valuable input.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Standards and Technology, 325 Broadway MS817.03, Boulder, Colorado 80305, USA

    Eva Zakka-Bajjani, François Nguyen, Leila R. Vale, Raymond W. Simmonds & José Aumentado

  2. Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA

    Minhyea Lee

Authors
  1. Eva Zakka-Bajjani
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  2. François Nguyen
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  3. Minhyea Lee
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  4. Leila R. Vale
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  5. Raymond W. Simmonds
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Contributions

E.Z-B. and F.N. designed the experiment, built the measurement set-up and performed the measurements. M.L., R.W.S., J.A. contributed to the experimental design. L.R.V. contributed to the fabrication process development. J.A. conceived the experiment and supervised the project. All authors participated in the sample fabrication, the writing of the manuscript and the data analysis.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Eva Zakka-Bajjani, François Nguyen or José Aumentado.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Zakka-Bajjani, E., Nguyen, F., Lee, M. et al. Quantum superposition of a single microwave photon in two different ’colour’ states. Nature Phys 7, 599–603 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys2035

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