Sun Guozhu

Tuning an rf-SQUID flux qubit system's potential with magnetic flux bias

At an extremely low temperature of 20 mK, we measured the loop current in a tunable rf superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) with a dc-SQUID. By adjusting the magnetic flux applied to the rf-SQUID loop (Φf) and the small dc-SQUID (Φfcjj), respectively, the potential shape of the system can be fully controlled in situ. Variation in the transition step and overlap size in the switching current with a barrier flux bias are analyzed, from which we can obtain some relevant device parameters and build a model to explain the experimental phenomenon.

Dependence of Switching Current Distribution of a Current-Biased Josephson Junction on Microwave Frequency

We investigate the distribution of the switching current of a current-biased Josephson junction (CBJJ) and its dependence on the microwave frequency using two theoretical methods, one of which is the quantum trajectory method and the other is the master equation method. Both the methods show that the distribution of the switching current of CBJJ will exhibit double peaks in a certain range of microwave frequency if proper microwave power is given, and the gap between the two peaks will increase with the microwave frequency. The obtained results can be used to identify the energy difference of the ground and first excited states in a Josephson junction for any bias current.

A New Quantity to Characterize Stochastic Resonance

In a double-well system, we investigate theoretically the population distribution of a particle perturbed by a weak sinusoidal signal with a Gaussian white noise accompanied. Our numerical simulation shows that the probability of the particle staying in the right potential well, PR, exhibits an extreme value at specific noise intensity D depending on the frequency of the sinusoidal signal, which is a key feature of stochastic resonance. This is confirmed by calculating the power spectrum of the output signal, in which the extreme value of the amplitude locates at the same noise intensity. These results provide us with a new way to quantify the stochastic resonance by measuring the population distribution of the particle.

Frequency-tunable transmon in a three-dimensional copper cavity *

We have realized a frequency-tunable transmon in a three-dimensional cooper cavity using a direct current superconducting quantum interference device. Both the transition frequency of the transmon and the frequency of the dressed cavity can be varied with the applied external flux bias, which are well consistent with the theoretical model. The range of the variable transition frequency is from 5.188 GHz to 7.756 GHz. The energy relaxation time of the transmon is hundreds of nanoseconds.