- Physical Review Journals
All JournalsPhysics Magazine

PRX Quantum

Reuse & Permissions

It is not necessary to obtain permission to reuse this article or its components as it is available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. This license permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI are maintained. Please note that some figures may have been included with permission from other third parties. It is your responsibility to obtain the proper permission from the rights holder directly for these figures.

Export citation

Export citation

Choose format for download:

Download Citation
  • Open Access

Microwave Photon Detection at Parametric Criticality

Kirill Petrovnin*, Jiaming Wang, Michael Perelshtein, Pertti Hakonen, and Gheorghe Sorin Paraoanu

  • QTF Centre of Excellence and InstituteQ, Department of Applied Physics, Aalto University, FI-00076 Aalto, Finland

  • *Corresponding author: kirill.petrovnin@aalto.fi
PDF

PRX Quantum 5, 020342 – Published 24 May, 2024

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/PRXQuantum.5.020342

Abstract

The detection of microwave fields at single-photon power levels is a much-sought-after technology, with practical applications in nanoelectronics and quantum information science. Here we demonstrate a simple yet powerful criticality-enhanced method of microwave photon detection by operating a magnetic-field-tunable Kerr Josephson parametric amplifier at the border of a first-order phase transition and close to the critical point. We obtain an efficiency of 73% and a dark-count rate of 167 kHz, corresponding to a responsivity of 1.3×1017W−1 and noise-equivalent power of 3.28 zW/Hz. We verify the single-photon operation by extracting the Poissonian statistics of a coherent probe signal.

View figure in article

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Popular Summary

Measurement is the key link between the realm of quantum phenomena and the classical world. The detection of microwave fields at single-photon levels is challenging because of the low energies involved—5 orders of magnitude smaller than for visible-light photons. A successful proof of concept of efficient microwave photon detection can unlock a range of practical applications in nanoelectronics and quantum information science.

In this work, we focus on systems displaying critical behavior, where small variations of physical observables can lead to significant macroscopic changes. The parametrically driven quantum oscillator with Kerr nonlinearity and dissipation, realized here as a Josephson amplifier, is one such system that encapsulates in a quintessential way the physics of quantum phase transitions. We investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the critical regimes of this device, aiming to evaluate its sensitivity to single microwave photon excitation. Our findings demonstrate that operation near the border of a quantum phase transition allows highly sensitive detection of weak microwave fields. We verify the single-photon operation of the detector by extracting the Poissonian statistics of a coherent probe signal.

We anticipate that this technique will contribute to advancing experimental methods for quantum microwaves, where single-photon detection is crucial.

Article Text

References (95)

  1. K. Huang Statistical Mechanics (John Wiley & Sons, New York, 2008).
  2. U. C. Täuber, Critical Dynamics: A Field Theory Approach to Equilibrium and Non-equilibrium Scaling Behavior (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2014).
  3. K. Irwin and G. Hilton, in Cryogenic Particle Detection, edited by C. Enss (Springer Berlin, 2005), p. 63.
  4. S. L. Sondhi, S. Girvin, J. Carini, and D. Shahar, Continuous quantum phase transitions, Rev. Mod. Phys. 69, 315 (1997).
  5. P. Zanardi, M. G. A. Paris, and L. Campos Venuti, Quantum criticality as a resource for quantum estimation, Phys. Rev. A 78, 042105 (2008).
  6. M. M. Rams, P. Sierant, O. Dutta, P. Horodecki, and J. Zakrzewski, At the limits of criticality-based quantum metrology: Apparent super-Heisenberg scaling revisited, Phys. Rev. X 8, 021022 (2018).
  7. Y. Chu, S. Zhang, B. Yu, and J. Cai, Dynamic framework for criticality-enhanced quantum sensing, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 010502 (2021).
  8. J.-H. Lü, W. Ning, X. Zhu, F. Wu, L.-T. Shen, Z.-B. Yang, and S.-B. Zheng, Critical quantum sensing based on the Jaynes-Cummings model with a squeezing drive, Phys. Rev. A 106, 062616 (2022).
  9. K. Gietka, Squeezing by critical speeding up: Applications in quantum metrology, Phys. Rev. A 105, 042620 (2022).
  10. O. Abah, G. De Chiara, M. Paternostro, and R. Puebla, Harnessing nonadiabatic excitations promoted by a quantum critical point: Quantum battery and spin squeezing, Phys. Rev. Res. 4, L022017 (2022).
  11. M. Tsang, Quantum transition-edge detectors, Phys. Rev. A 88, 021801 (2013).
  12. K. Macieszczak, M. Guta, I. Lesanovsky, and J. P. Garrahan, Dynamical phase transitions as a resource for quantum enhanced metrology, Phys. Rev. A 93, 022103 (2016).
  13. L. Garbe, M. Bina, A. Keller, M. G. A. Paris, and S. Felicetti, Critical quantum metrology with a finite-component quantum phase transition, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 120504 (2020).
  14. I. Frérot and T. Roscilde, Quantum critical metrology, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 020402 (2018).
  15. T. Ilias, D. Yang, S. F. Huelga, and M. B. Plenio, Criticality-enhanced quantum sensing via continuous measurement, PRX Quantum 3, 010354 (2022).
  16. R. Di Candia, F. Minganti, K. V. Petrovnin, G. S. Paraoanu, and S. Felicetti, Critical parametric quantum sensing, npj Quantum Inf. 9, 1 (2023).
  17. S.-B. Tang, H. Qin, B.-B. Liu, D.-Y. Wang, K. Cui, S.-L. Su, L.-L. Yan, and G. Chen, Enhancement of quantum sensing in a cavity-optomechanical system around the quantum critical point, Phys. Rev. A 108, 053514 (2023).
  18. S. Dusuel and J. Vidal, Finite-size scaling exponents of the Lipkin-Meshkov-Glick model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 93, 237204 (2004).
  19. M.-J. Hwang, R. Puebla, and M. B. Plenio, Quantum phase transition and universal dynamics in the Rabi model, Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 180404 (2015).
  20. L. Bakemeier, A. Alvermann, and H. Fehske, Quantum phase transition in the Dicke model with critical and noncritical entanglement, Phys. Rev. A 85, 043821 (2012).
  21. X. H. H. Zhang and H. U. Baranger, Driven-dissipative phase transition in a Kerr oscillator: From semiclassical PT symmetry to quantum fluctuations, Phys. Rev. A 103, 033711 (2021).
  22. L. Giannelli, E. Paladino, M. Grajcar, G. S. Paraoanu, and G. Falci, Detecting virtual photons in ultrastrongly coupled superconducting quantum circuits, Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 013008 (2024).
  23. R. Vijay, M. Devoret, and I. Siddiqi, The Josephson bifurcation amplifier, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 80, 111101 (2009).
  24. C. M. Wilson, G. Johansson, A. Pourkabirian, M. Simoen, J. R. Johansson, T. Duty, F. Nori, and P. Delsing, Observation of the dynamical Casimir effect in a superconducting circuit, Nature 479, 376 (2011).
  25. M. Perelshtein, K. Petrovnin, V. Vesterinen, S. Hamedani Raja, I. Lilja, M. Will, A. Savin, S. Simbierowicz, R. Jabdaraghi, J. Lehtinen, L. Grönberg, J. Hassel, M. Prunnila, J. Govenius, G. Paraoanu, and P. Hakonen, Broadband continuous-variable entanglement generation using a Kerr-free Josephson metamaterial, Phys. Rev. Appl. 18, 024063 (2022).
  26. K. V. Petrovnin, M. R. Perelshtein, T. Korkalainen, V. Vesterinen, I. Lilja, G. S. Paraoanu, and P. J. Hakonen, Generation and structuring of multipartite entanglement in a Josephson parametric system, Adv. Quant. Technol. 6, 2200031 (2023).
  27. P. Krantz, A. Bengtsson, M. Simoen, S. Gustavsson, V. Shumeiko, W. D. Oliver, C. M. Wilson, P. Delsing, and J. Bylander, Single-shot read-out of a superconducting qubit using a Josephson parametric oscillator, Nat. Commun. 7, 11417 (2016).
  28. A. Grimm, N. E. Frattini, S. Puri, S. O. Mundhada, S. Touzard, M. Mirrahimi, S. M. Girvin, S. Shankar, and M. H. Devoret, Stabilization and operation of a Kerr-cat qubit, Nature 584, 205 (2020).
  29. S. Puri, S. Boutin, and A. Blais, Engineering the quantum states of light in a Kerr-nonlinear resonator by two-photon driving, npj Quantum Inf. 3, 18 (2017).
  30. C. Berdou, et al., One hundred second bit-flip time in a two-photon dissipative oscillator, PRX Quantum 4, 020350 (2023).
  31. X. He, Y. Lu, D. Bao, H. Xue, W. Jiang, Z. Wang, A. Roudsari, P. Delsing, J. Tsai, and Z. Lin, Fast generation of Schrödinger cat states using a Kerr-tunable superconducting resonator, Nat. Commun. 14, 6358 (2023).
  32. Y. Lu, M. Kudra, T. Hillmann, J. Yang, H.-X. Li, F. Quijandría, and P. Delsing, Resolving Fock states near the Kerr-free point of a superconducting resonator, npj Quantum Inf. 9, 114 (2023).
  33. B. Karimi, F. Brange, P. Samuelsson, and J. P. Pekola, Reaching the ultimate energy resolution of a quantum detector, Nat. Commun. 11, 367 (2020).
  34. G. Buller and R. Collins, Single-photon generation and detection, Meas. Sci. Technol. 21, 012002 (2009).
  35. R. H. Hadfield, Single-photon detectors for optical quantum information applications, Nat. Photonics 3, 696 (2009).
  36. A. Migdall, S. Polyakov, J. Fan, and J. Bienfang, Eds., Single-Photon Generation and Detection: Experimental Methods in the Physical Sciences, Experimental Methods in the Physical Sciences, Vol. 45 (Elsevier/AP, Amsterdam, 2013).
  37. S. R. Sathyamoorthy, T. M. Stace, and G. Johansson, Detecting itinerant single microwave photons, C. R. Phys. 17, 756 (2016).
  38. W. Khan, P. P. Potts, S. Lehmann, C. Thelander, K. A. Dick, P. Samuelsson, and V. F. Maisi, Efficient and continuous microwave photoconversion in hybrid cavity-semiconductor nanowire double quantum dot diodes, Nat. Commun. 12, 5130 (2021).
  39. G.-H. Lee, D. K. Efetov, W. Jung, L. Ranzani, E. D. Walsh, T. A. Ohki, T. Taniguchi, K. Watanabe, P. Kim, D. Englund, and K. C. Fong, Graphene-based Josephson junction microwave bolometer, Nature 586, 42 (2020).
  40. R. Kokkoniemi, J.-P. Girard, D. Hazra, A. Laitinen, J. Govenius, R. E. Lake, I. Sallinen, V. Vesterinen, M. Partanen, J. Y. Tan, K. W. Chan, K. Y. Tan, P. Hakonen, and M. Möttönen, Bolometer operating at the threshold for circuit quantum electrodynamics, Nature 586, 47 (2020).
  41. Y.-F. Chen, D. Hover, S. Sendelbach, L. Maurer, S. T. Merkel, E. J. Pritchett, F. K. Wilhelm, and R. McDermott, Microwave photon counter based on Josephson junctions, Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 217401 (2011).
  42. A. Poudel, R. McDermott, and M. G. Vavilov, Quantum efficiency of a microwave photon detector based on a current-biased Josephson junction, Phys. Rev. B 86, 174506 (2012).
  43. E. D. Walsh, D. K. Efetov, G.-H. Lee, M. Heuck, J. Crossno, T. A. Ohki, P. Kim, D. Englund, and K. C. Fong, Graphene-based Josephson-junction single-photon detector, Phys. Rev. Appl. 8, 024022 (2017).
  44. G. Oelsner, C. K. Andersen, M. Rehák, M. Schmelz, S. Anders, M. Grajcar, U. Hübner, K. Mølmer, and E. Il’ichev, Detection of weak microwave fields with an underdamped Josephson junction, Phys. Rev. Appl. 7, 014012 (2017).
  45. D. S. Golubev, E. V. Il’ichev, and L. S. Kuzmin, Single-photon detection with a Josephson junction coupled to a resonator, Phys. Rev. Appl. 16, 014025 (2021).
  46. A. L. Grimsmo, B. Royer, J. M. Kreikebaum, Y. Ye, K. O’Brien, I. Siddiqi, and A. Blais, Quantum metamaterial for broadband detection of single microwave photons, Phys. Rev. Appl. 15, 034074 (2021).
  47. K. Inomata, Z. Lin, K. Koshino, W. D. Oliver, J.-S. Tsai, T. Yamamoto, and Y. Nakamura, Single microwave-photon detector using an artificial Λ-type three-level system, Nat. Commun. 7, 1 (2016).
  48. A. Narla, S. Shankar, M. Hatridge, Z. Leghtas, K. M. Sliwa, E. Zalys-Geller, S. O. Mundhada, W. Pfaff, L. Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, and M. Devoret, Robust concurrent remote entanglement between two superconducting qubits, Phys. Rev. X 6, 031036 (2016).
  49. J.-C. Besse, S. Gasparinetti, M. C. Collodo, T. Walter, P. Kurpiers, M. Pechal, C. Eichler, and A. Wallraff, Single-shot quantum nondemolition detection of individual itinerant microwave photons, Phys. Rev. X 8, 021003 (2018).
  50. S. Kono, K. Koshino, Y. Tabuchi, A. Noguchi, and Y. Nakamura, Quantum non-demolition detection of an itinerant microwave photon, Nat. Phys. 14, 546 (2018).
  51. R. Lescanne, S. Deléglise, E. Albertinale, U. Réglade, T. Capelle, E. Ivanov, T. Jacqmin, Z. Leghtas, and E. Flurin, Irreversible qubit-photon coupling for the detection of itinerant microwave photons, Phys. Rev. X 10, 021038 (2020).
  52. G. Catelani, J. Koch, L. Frunzio, R. J. Schoelkopf, M. H. Devoret, and L. I. Glazman, Quasiparticle relaxation of superconducting qubits in the presence of flux, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 077002 (2011).
  53. K. Serniak, M. Hays, G. De Lange, S. Diamond, S. Shankar, L. D. Burkhart, L. Frunzio, M. Houzet, and M. H. Devoret, Hot nonequilibrium quasiparticles in transmon qubits, Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 157701 (2018).
  54. P. Krantz, M. Kjaergaard, F. Yan, T. P. Orlando, S. Gustavsson, and W. D. Oliver, A quantum engineer’s guide to superconducting qubits, Appl. Phys. Rev. 6, 021318 (2019).
  55. N. P. de Leon, K. M. Itoh, D. Kim, K. K. Mehta, T. E. Northup, H. Paik, B. S. Palmer, N. Samarth, S. Sangtawesin, and D. W. Steuerman, Materials challenges and opportunities for quantum computing hardware, Science 372, eabb2823 (2021).
  56. I. Siddiqi, Engineering high-coherence superconducting qubits, Nat. Rev. Mater. 6, 875 (2021).
  57. G. Catelani and J. P. Pekola, Using materials for quasiparticle engineering, Mater. Quantum. Technol. 2, 013001 (2022).
  58. E. T. Mannila, P. Samuelsson, S. Simbierowicz, J. T. Peltonen, V. Vesterinen, L. Grönberg, J. Hassel, V. F. Maisi, and J. P. Pekola, A superconductor free of quasiparticles for seconds, Nat. Phys. 18, 145 (2022).
  59. W. Wustmann and V. Shumeiko, Parametric resonance in tunable superconducting cavities, Phys. Rev. B 87, 184501 (2013).
  60. P. Krantz, Y. Reshitnyk, W. Wustmann, J. Bylander, S. Gustavsson, W. D. Oliver, T. Duty, V. Shumeiko, and P. Delsing, Investigation of nonlinear effects in Josephson parametric oscillators used in circuit quantum electrodynamics, New J. Phys. 15, 105002 (2013).
  61. C. M. Wilson, T. Duty, M. Sandberg, F. Persson, V. Shumeiko, and P. Delsing, Photon generation in an electromagnetic cavity with a time-dependent boundary, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 233907 (2010).
  62. Z. Lin, Y. Nakamura, and M. Dykman, Critical fluctuations and the rates of interstate switching near the excitation threshold of a quantum parametric oscillator, Phys. Rev. E 92, 022105 (2015).
  63. M. Marthaler and M. Dykman, Quantum interference in the classically forbidden region: A parametric oscillator, Phys. Rev. A 76, 010102 (2007).
  64. V. Peano, M. Marthaler, and M. Dykman, Sharp tunneling peaks in a parametric oscillator: Quantum resonances missing in the rotating wave approximation, Phys. Rev. Lett. 109, 090401 (2012).
  65. M. Dykman, Ed., Fluctuating Nonlinear Oscillators: From Nanomechanics to Quantum Superconducting Circuits (Oxford University Press, Oxford, United Kingdom, 2012).
  66. P. Walther, K. J. Resch, T. Rudolph, E. Schenck, H. Weinfurter, V. Vedral, M. Aspelmeyer, and A. Zeilinger, Experimental one-way quantum computing, Nature 434, 169 (2005).
  67. M. Sanz, U. Las Heras, J. J. García-Ripoll, E. Solano, and R. Di Candia, Quantum estimation methods for quantum illumination, Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 070803 (2017).
  68. A. B. Zorin and Y. Makhlin, Period-doubling bifurcation readout for a Josephson qubit, Phys. Rev. B 83, 224506 (2011).
  69. S. Lamoreaux, K. Van Bibber, K. Lehnert, and G. Carosi, Analysis of single-photon and linear amplifier detectors for microwave cavity dark matter axion searches, Phys. Rev. D 88, 035020 (2013).
  70. T. Braine, et al., ADMX Collaboration, Extended search for the invisible axion with the axion dark matter experiment, Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 101303 (2020).
  71. A. V. Dixit, S. Chakram, K. He, A. Agrawal, R. K. Naik, D. I. Schuster, and A. Chou, Searching for dark matter with a superconducting qubit, Phys. Rev. Lett. 126, 141302 (2021).
  72. C. Kutlu, A. F. van Loo, S. Uchaikin, A. N. Matlashov, D. Lee, S. Oh, J. Kim, W. Chung, Y. Nakamura, and Y. K. Semertzidis, Characterization of a flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifier with near quantum-limited added noise for axion search experiments, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 34, 085013 (2021).
  73. L. Grönberg, M. Kiviranta, V. Vesterinen, J. Lehtinen, S. Simbierowicz, J. Luomahaara, M. Prunnila, and J. Hassel, Side-wall spacer passivated sub-μm Josephson junction fabrication process, Supercond. Sci. Technol. 30, 125016 (2017).
  74. S. Pogorzalek, K. G. Fedorov, L. Zhong, J. Goetz, F. Wulschner, M. Fischer, P. Eder, E. Xie, K. Inomata, T. Yamamoto, Y. Nakamura, A. Marx, F. Deppe, and R. Gross, Flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifiers: Hysteretic flux response and nondegenerate gain measurements, Phys. Rev. Appl. 8, 024012 (2017).
  75. T. Yamamoto, K. Koshino, and Y. Nakamura, in Principles and Methods of Quantum Information Technologies, edited by Y. Yamamoto and K. Semba, Lecture Notes in Physics, Vol. 911 (Springer, Tokyo, Japan, 2016), p. 495.
  76. T. Elo, T. S. Abhilash, M. R. Perelshtein, I. Lilja, E. V. Korostylev, and P. J. Hakonen, Broadband lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier with single-step lithography, Appl. Phys. Lett. 114, 152601 (2019).
  77. M. Dykman, Critical exponents in metastable decay via quantum activation, Phys. Rev. E 75, 011101 (2007).
  78. S. Komiyama, Single-photon detectors in the terahertz range, IEEE J. Sel. Top. 17, 54 (2011).
  79. A. N. Cleland, D. Esteve, C. Urbina, and M. H. Devoret, Very low noise photodetector based on the single electron transistor, Appl. Phys. Lett. 61, 2820 (1992).
  80. O. Astafiev and S. Komiyama, in Electron Transport in Quantum Dots, edited by J. P. Bird (Springer US, Boston, MA, 2003), p. 363.
  81. C. Silberhorn, Detecting quantum light, Contemp. Phys. 48, 143 (2007).
  82. R. Alléaume, F. Treussart, J.-M. Courty, and J.-F. Roch, Photon statistics characterization of a single-photon source, New J. Phys. 6, 85 (2004).
  83. A. R. Rossi, S. Olivares, and M. G. A. Paris, Photon statistics without counting photons, Phys. Rev. A 70, 055801 (2004).
  84. R. Loudon, The Quantum Theory of Light (OUP Oxford, Clarendon, 2000).
  85. M. Zgirski, M. Foltyn, A. Savin, and K. Norowski, Flipping-coin experiment to study switching in Josephson junctions and superconducting wires, Phys. Rev. Appl. 11, 054070 (2019).
  86. N. E. Frattini, U. Vool, S. Shankar, A. Narla, K. M. Sliwa, and M. H. Devoret, 3-wave mixing Josephson dipole element, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 222603 (2017).
  87. Z. R. Lin, K. Inomata, K. Koshino, W. D. Oliver, Y. Nakamura, J. S. Tsai, and T. Yamamoto, Josephson parametric phase-locked oscillator and its application to dispersive readout of superconducting qubits, Nat. Commun. 5, 4480 (2014).
  88. M. Wallquist, V. S. Shumeiko, and G. Wendin, Selective coupling of superconducting qubits via tunable stripline cavity, Phys. Rev. B 74, 224506 (2006).
  89. C. Eichler and A. Wallraff, Controlling the dynamic range of a Josephson parametric amplifier, EPJ Quantum Technol. 1, 2 (2014).
  90. J. Clarke and A. I. Braginski, The SQUID Handbook: Fundamentals and Technology of SQUIDs and SQUID Systems (John Wiley & Sons, Weinheim, 2006).
  91. A. Piedjou Komnang, C. Guarcello, C. Barone, C. Gatti, S. Pagano, V. Pierro, A. Rettaroli, and G. Filatrella, Analysis of Josephson junctions switching time distributions for the detection of single microwave photons, Chaos Solitons Fract. 142, 110496 (2021).
  92. P. Addesso, G. Filatrella, and V. Pierro, Characterization of escape times of Josephson junctions for signal detection, Phys. Rev. E 85, 016708 (2012).
  93. P. Kok and S. L. Braunstein, Postselected versus nonpostselected quantum teleportation using parametric down-conversion, Phys. Rev. A 61, 042304 (2000).
  94. P. Kok, W. J. Munro, K. Nemoto, T. C. Ralph, J. P. Dowling, and G. J. Milburn, Linear optical quantum computing with photonic qubits, Rev. Mod. Phys. 79, 135 (2007).
  95. H. Lee, U. Yurtsever, P. Kok, G. M. Hockney, C. Adami, S. L. Braunstein, and J. P. Dowling, Towards photostatistics from photon-number discriminating detectors, J. Mod. Opt. 51, 1517 (2004).

Outline

Information

PRX Quantum 5, 020342– Published 24 May, 2024
  • Received 9 December 2023
  • Revised 25 March 2024
  • Accepted 19 April 2024
Crossmark - Check for updates button
Creative Commons Logo

Published by the American Physical Society under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the published article's title, journal citation, and DOI.

Published by the American Physical Society

Sign In to Your Journals Account

Filter

Filter

Article Lookup

Enter a citation