Light-matter interactions in

superconducting circuits

Juan Jose Garcia Ripoll

IFF-CSIC, Madrid, Spain
http://quinfog.iff.csic.es
http://www.promisce.eu

10

100

1000

LIGHT

104

105

1025

The field
QUANTUM
INFORMATION

QUANTUM

CONDENSED

OPTICS

MATTER

QUANTUM
TECHNOLOGIES

Superconducting
quantum circuits

Low temperature Physics

Typical energy scales
Microwaves, 1- 30 GHz
Associated temperatures
T ~ 0.05 - 1.5 K
Work in dilution refrigerators
T ~ 11-20 mK
Superconductors:
Al, Nb, ...
Size, heating? Interface to outer
world? Amplification &
detection? ...

Circuit quantization
C
Vg

Cg

Kirchoff theory

1
+

+ cos

Hamiltonian

=
=

Quantization

Flux variables

Lagrangian

+ 1 + . .

Microwave light

Waveguide:
Confined electromagnetic field
among two or more
conducting plates, on an
isolating substrate.

Microwave light

=
=

Microwave photons

= 1

Electrical properties

Classical

Quantum

Quantum and classical harmonic oscillators are

indistinguishable from basic observables.
We need entangling interactions, squeezing, homodyne
detection & nonlinearities, to really talk about photons

Artificial atoms
E

EJ
Vg

Neq+n

probe

|0

|1

Vg
Effective two-level system

1

2

Dual nature

2e 2e
2e

2e

2e

2e

2e 2e 2e

Qubits = Cooper pairs

Photons = Cooper pairs

Circuit QED
=

2
0
1
Cavity and qubit exchange
excitations, conserving the total
number. This induces a splitting
of levels.

Strong coupling of a single photon to a superconducting qubit using circuit QED

A. Wallraff et al, Nature 431, 162 (2004)

Strong coupling

Strong coupling of a single photon to a superconducting qubit using circuit QED

A. Wallraff et al, Nature 431, 162 (2004)

C-QED vs c-QED
Cavity Quantum Electrodyn.
Atoms interacting with
visible/IR/UV light. Weak
coupling, fast losses.

Circuit Quantum Electrodyn.

Circuits interacting with
microwave light. Strong
coupling, many Rabi
oscillations / operations.

Beyond standard
Quantum Optics

Photon-qubit scattering

Coherent single photon transport in a one-dimensional waveguide[]

J-T Shen, S. Fan, Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 213001 (2011)
Ibid. Optics letters 30 (15), 2001-2003

Photon-qubit scattering

Antibunching of microwave-frequency photons [...]

D. Bozyigit et al, Nature Physics 7, 154158 (2011)

Giant Cross-Kerr effect

~

Io-Chu Hoi et al Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 053601 (2013)

Dual nature

2e

2e 2e
2e

2e

2e

Qubits = Cooper pairs

2e 2e 2e

Photons = Cooper pairs

Ultrastrong interaction

Beyond the Jaynes-Cummings model: circuit QED in the ultrastrong coupling regime
T. Niemczyk et al, Nature Physics 6,772776 (2010)

Breakdown of Jaynes-Cummings

Rotating-Wave approximation
Full dipolar coupling

Beyond the Jaynes-Cummings model: circuit QED in the ultrastrong coupling regime
T. Niemczyk et al, Nature Physics 6,772776 (2010)

Theory of photon-qubit
interactions

Nonequilibrium and nonperturbative dynamics of ultrastrong coupling in open lines

B. Peropadre, D. Zueco, D. Porras, J.J.G.R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 243602 (2014)

Spin-boson model

= +
2

1
+
2

Electromagnetic
environment

Artificial atom
or qubit

Minimal or
dipolar coupling

Nonlocal coupling
=

Ohmic model

+
2

=2

= 2

Spin-boson model

= +
2

Markovian
qubit dynamics

1
+
2

Non-Markovian
qubit
dynamics

But, what about the bosons?

Phase
transition to
localization

Spin-boson model

= +
2

Spin-boson
quantum optics

1
+
2

Equilibration

Experimentally
motivated

Correlation
spread

Theoretically
motivated

Difficulty: entanglement

1. The coupled oscillators are entangled in position space.

2. The number of photons is not zero in the ground state.
3. The presence of the qubit induces nonlocal correlations and
a strong distorsion of the EM field.

Matrix Product States Ansatz

tr

| =

+
2

The ansatz keeps track of all correlations between

qubit and photons.
J. J. Garca-Ripoll, New J. Phys. 8 305 (2006)

Tensor network states

MPS State

A ...

B ...

MP Operator

J. J. Garca-Ripoll, New J. Phys. 8 305 (2006)

Time evolution
Apply

Simplify

A ...

B ...

C ...

J. J. Garca-Ripoll, New J. Phys. 8 305 (2006)

Qubits as optical media

Nonequilibrium and nonperturbative dynamics of ultrastrong coupling in open lines

B. Peropadre, D. Zueco, D. Porras, J.J.G.R. Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 243602 (2014)

Spontaneous emission

RWA
master
equation

B. Peropadre et al. PRL 111, 243602 (2014)

Time & space resolved dynamics

B. Peropadre et al. PRL 111, 243602 (2014)

Frequency space

cut

B. Peropadre et al. PRL 111, 243602 (2014)

Scattering

B. Peropadre et al. PRL 111, 243602 (2014)

Photonic crystals

Scattering in the ultrastrong regime: nonlinear optics with one photon

E Snchez-Burillo, D Zueco, J Garca-Ripoll, L Martn-Moreno
arXiv:1406.5779

Microwave photonic crystals

Photons in a metamaterial with a

finite bandwidth and a gap,
interacting with a 2-level system:
Nanophotonics
Circuit-QED

+
,

+ +
2

Transmission spectrum

E Snchez-Burillo et al arXiv:1406.5779

Qubit as a mirror

Photons that are

resonant with the qubit
are reflected (partially or
totally) as a function of
the frequency.

E Snchez-Burillo et al arXiv:1406.5779

Single-photon frequency conversion

Incoming photons with

one frequency are
reemitted at a different
frequency. This happens
at the single-photon
level.
E Snchez-Burillo et al arXiv:1406.5779

Bound states

Both in the RWA and in the non-RWA models, there are bound
states of photons confined around the two-level system.

Many qubits & many photons

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Interspersed spin-boson models

=

+
2

We simplify the conectivity of

the model to aid in theoretical
manipulation:

Each qubit talks to two or

more cavities / bosons.
Photons mediate
interactions.
Qubits do, too!

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Interspersed spin-boson models

=

+
2

Effective spin-spin interactions:

=
+

2
,

Renormalized magnetic field

due to photon drag
a a
,

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Trapped ions

,
,

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Polaron ansatz
=

+
2

= exp

H.c.

This is the same unitary transformation used to obtain the

trapped ion spin models.
It entangles bosons and spins.
Minimal energy is obtained for the vacuum state, =0

Quatum phase transition

iTEBD
/ MPS

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Evidence on the bosons

The bosons show a similar phase
transition as the spins.

This can be detected by studying

the number of phonons in the
experiment across the phase
transition.

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Quasiparticles
t-MPS

We study how energy

propagates through the 1D
system, when perturbed
(many-body spectroscopy)

A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)

A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Highly nonlinear media

Single-qubit mirror
Frequency conversion
Photon bound states
B. Peropadre et al. PRL 111, 243602 (2014)
E Snchez-Burillo et al arXiv:1406.5779

Quantum phase
transitions
Non-perturbative Ising
model quantum simulator.
Quantum phase transition.
Many-body spectroscopy
A. Kurcz, A. Bermdez, JJGR, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 180405 (2014)
A. Kurcz, JJGR, A. Bermdez, arxiv:1408.1878

Acknowledgements
http://quinfog.iff.csic.es

D. Porras
U. Sussex

D. Zueco
U. Zaragoza

A. Bermdez
QUINFOG

L. Martn-Moreno
ICMA, Zaragoza

E. Snchez-Burillo
ICMA, Zaragoza