Adam Miranowicz

Microwave photonics with superconducting quantum circuits

In the past 20 years, impressive progress has been made both experimentally and theoretically in superconducting quantum circuits, which provide a platform for manipulating microwave photons. This emerging field of superconducting quantum microwave circuits has been driven by many new interesting phenomena in microwave photonics and quantum information processing. For instance, the interaction between superconducting quantum circuits and single microwave photons can reach the regimes of strong, ultra-strong, and even deep-strong coupling. Many higher-order effects, unusual and less familiar in traditional cavity quantum electrodynamics with natural atoms, have been experimentally observed, e.g., giant Kerr effects, multi-photon processes, and single-atom induced bistability of microwave photons. These developments may lead to improved understanding of the counterintuitive properties of quantum mechanics, and speed up applications ranging from microwave photonics to superconducting quantum information processing. In this article, we review experimental and theoretical progress in microwave photonics with superconducting quantum circuits. We hope that this global review can provide a useful roadmap for this rapidly developing field.

Optomechanical analog of two-color electromagnetically induced transparency: Photon transmission through an optomechanical device with a two-level system

Some optomechanical systems can be transparent to a probe field when a strong driving field is applied. These systems can provide an optomechanical analogue of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). We study the transmission of a probe field through a hybrid optomechanical system consisting of a cavity and a mechanical resonator with a two-level system (qubit). The qubit might be an intrinsic defect inside the mechanical resonator, a superconducting artificial atom, or another two-level system. The mechanical resonator is coupled to the cavity field via radiation pressure and to the qubit via the Jaynes-Cummings interaction. We find that the dressed two-level system and mechanical phonon can form two sets of three-level systems. Thus, there are two transparency windows in the discussed system. We interpret this effect as an optomechanical analog of two-color EIT (or double-EIT). We demonstrate how to switch between one and two EIT windows by changing the transition frequency of the qubit. We show that the absorption and dispersion of the system are mainly affected by the qubit-phonon coupling strength and the transition frequency of the qubit.

Two-photon and three-photon blockades in driven nonlinear systems

Photon blockade, in analogy to Coulomb’s or phonon blockade s, is a phenomenon when a single photon in a nonlinear cavity blocks the transmission of a second photon. This effect can occur in Kerr-type systems driven by a laser due to strong nonlinear photon-photon interactions. We predict the occurrence of higher-order photon blockades where the transmission of more than two photons is effectively blocked by single- and two-photon states. This photon blockade can be achieved by tuning the frequency of the laser driving field to be equal to the sum of the Kerr nonlinearity and the cavity resonance frequency. We refer to this phenomenon as twophoton blockade or two-photon state truncation via nonlinear scissors, and can also be interpreted as photoninduced tunneling. We also show that, for a driving-field fre quency fulfilling another resonance condition and for higher strengths of the driving field, even a three-photo n blockade can occur but less clearly than in the case of single- and two-photon blockades. We demonstrate how various photon blockades can be identified by analyzing photon-number correlations, coherence and entropic properties, Wigner functions, and spectra of squeezing. We show that two- and three-photon blockades can, in principle, be observed in various cavity and circuit quantum electrodynamical systems for which the standard single-photon blockade was observed without the need of using higher-order driving interactions or Kerr media exhibiting higher-order nonlinear susceptibility.

Generation of discrete superpositions of coherent states in the anharmonic oscillator model

The problem of generating discrete superpositions of coherent states in the process of light propagation through a nonlinear Kerr medium, which is modelled by the anharmonic oscillator, is discussed. It is shown that under an appropriate choice of the length (time) of the medium the superpositions with both even and odd numbers of coherent states can appear. Analytical formulae for such superpositions with a few components are given explicitly. General rules governing the process of generating discrete superpositions of coherent states are also given. The maximum number of well distinguished states that can be obtained for a given number of initial photons is estimated. The quasiprobability distribution Q( alpha , alpha *,t) representing the superposition states is illustrated graphically, showing regular structures when the component states are well separated.

Wehrl information entropy and phase distributions of Schrödinger cat and cat-like states

The Wehrl information entropy and its phase density, the so-called Wehrl phase distribution, are applied to describe Schrcat and cat-like (kitten) states. The advantages of the Wehrl phase distribution over the Wehrl entropy in a description of the superposition principle are presented. The entropic measures are compared with a conventional phase distribution from the Husimi Q-function. Compact-form formulae for the entropic measures are found for superpositions of well separated states. Examples of Schr¨ odinger cats (including even, odd and Yurke-Stoler coherent states), as well as the cat- like states generated in the Kerr medium, are analysed in detail. It is shown that, in contrast to the Wehrl entropy, the Wehrl phase distribution properly distinguishes between different superpositions of unequally weighted states with respect to their number and phase-space configuration.

Qubit-induced phonon blockade as a signature of quantum behavior in nanomechanical resonators

The observation of quantized nanomechanical oscillations by detecting femtometer-scale displacements is a significant challenge for experimentalists. We propose that a phonon blockade can serve as a signature of quantum behavior in nanomechanical resonators. In analogy to the photon blockade and Coulomb blockade for electrons, the main idea for phonon blockade is that the second phonon cannot be excited when there is one phonon in the nonlinear oscillator. To realize phonon blockade, a superconducting quantum two-level system is coupled to the nanomechanical resonator and is used to induce the phonon self-interaction. Using Monte Carlo simulations, the dynamics of the induced nonlinear oscillator is studied via the Cahill-Glauber s-parametrized quasiprobability distributions. We show how the oscillation of the resonator can occur in the quantum regime and demonstrate how the phonon blockade can be observed with the currently accessible experimental parameters.

Ordering two-qubit states with concurrence and negativity

We study the ordering of two-qubit states with respect to the degree of bipartite entanglement using the Wootters concurrence - a measure of the entanglement of formation - and the negativity - a measure of the entanglement cost under the positive-partial-transpose-preserving operations. For two-qubit pure states, the negativity is the same as the concurrence. However, we demonstrate analytically on simple examples of various mixtures of Bell and separable states that the entanglement measures can impose different orderings on the states. We show which states, in general, give the maximally different predictions (i) when one of the states has the concurrence greater but the negativity smaller than those for the other state and (ii) when the states are entangled to the same degree according to one of the measures, but differently according to the other.

Sudden vanishing of spin squeezing under decoherence

In order to witness multipartite correlations beyond pairwise entanglement, spin-squeezing parameters are analytically calculated for a spin ensemble in a collective initial state under three different decoherence channels. It is shown that, in analogy to pairwise entanglement, the spin squeezing described by different parameters can suddenly become zero at different vanishing times. This finding shows the general occurrence of sudden vanishing phenomena of quantum correlations in many-body systems, which here is referred to as spin-squeezing sudden death (SSSD). It is shown that the SSSD usually occurs due to decoherence and that SSSD never occurs for some initial states in the amplitude-damping channel. We also analytically obtain the vanishing times of spin squeezing.

Classical information entropy and phase distributions of optical fields

The Wehrl phase distribution is defined as a phase density of the Wehrl classical information entropy. The new measure is applied to describe the quantum phase properties of some optical fields including Fock states, coherent and squeezed states, and superposition of chaotic and coherent fields. The Wehrl phase distribution is compared with both the conventional Wehrl entropy and Husimi phase distribution (the marginal Husimi Q-function). It is shown that the Wehrl phase distribution is a good measure of the phase-space uncertainty (noise), phase locking and phase bifurcation effects. It is also demonstrated that the Wehrl phase distribution properly describes phase randomization processes, and thus can be used in a description of the quantum optical phase.

Kerr nonlinear coupler and entanglement

We discuss a model comprising two coupled nonlinear oscillators (Kerr-like nonlinear coupler) with one of them pumped by an external coherent excitation. Applying the method of nonlinear quantum scissors we show that the quantum evolution of the coupler can be closed within a finite set of n-photon Fock states. Moreover, we show that the system is able to generate Bell-like states and, as a consequence, the coupler discussed behaves as a two-qubit system. We also analyse the effects of dissipation on entanglement of formation parametrized by concurrence.