Cooperative quantum phenomena in circuits with Josephson junctions: Strong driving, photon generation, and non-Gaussian noise
Final Report Abstract
In this project we investigated the dynamics of superconducting circuits including Josephson junctions far from equilibrium. The focus has been on circuits subject to external time-dependent fields including optimal control and on the interplay of charge transfer and electromagnetic fields in set-ups generalizing circuit quantum electrodynamics. The presence of external time-dependent control fields turns dissipative reservoirs, typically considered as detrimental to quantum effects, into resources to create and stabilize fragile quantum properties such as entanglement. A quantitative description requires a non-perturbative treatment of time dependent phenomena for open quantum systems which have thus been further developed during this project. This also allowed to attack fundamental questions of quantum thermodynamics such as work, heat, heat currents, and the impact of system-bath correlations and non-Markovian dynamics. Out of the second focus area grew the new field of Josephson photonics which can be considered as an extension of circuit quantum electrodynamics and is embedded in still broader activities to explore the quantum optics of quantum conductors in general. In collaboration with experimentalists it was shown that this class of mesoscopic systems offers a rich playground to study phenomena such as the transition from sequential to coherent Cooper pair transfer, quantum nonlinear dynamics, and the generation of non-classical microwave photons. Our results have direct influence on the understanding and development of new Scanning Tunneling Microscopes operating at ultra-low temperatures (covered by a press release) and the design of novel sources for quantum microwave radiation.
Publications
- Emission of non-classical radiation by inelastic Cooper pair tunneling, Phys. Rev. Lett.
M. Westig, B. Kubala, O. Parlavecchio, Y. Mukharsky, C. Altimiras, P. Joyez, D. Vion, P. Roche, M. Hofheinz, D. Esteve, M. Trif, P. Simon, J. Ankerhold, and F. Portier
- Almost local generation of Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen entanglement in nonequilibrium open systems, Phys. Rev. A 88, 052321 (2013)
R. Schmidt, J.T. Stockburger, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.88.052321) - From Coulomb-Blockade to Nonlinear Quantum Dynamics in a Superconducting Circuit with a Resonator, Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 247002 (2013)
V. Gramich, B. Kubala, S. Rohrer, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.247002) - Lamb shift enhancement and detection in strongly driven superconducting circuits, Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 027001 (2014)
V. Gramich, S. Gasparinetti, P. Solinas, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.113.027001) - Optimal Control theory with arbitrary superpositions of waveforms, J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 47, 495002 (2014)
S. Meister, J.T. Stockburger, R. Schmidt, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8113/47/49/495002) - Entanglement generation through local field and quantum dissipation, Phys. Scr. T 165, 014020 (2015)
J.T. Stockburger, R. Schmidt, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/0031-8949/2015/T165/014020) - Resonators coupled to voltage-biased Josephson junctions: From linear response to strongly driven nonlinear oscillations, Phys. Rev. B 92, 174532 (2015)
S. Meister, M. Mecklenburg, V. Gramich, J.T. Stockburger, J. Ankerhold, and B. Kubala
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.92.174532) - Work and heat for two-level systems in dissipative environments: Strong driving and non-Markovian dynamics, Phys. Rev. B 91, 224303 (2015)
R. Schmidt, M. F. Carusela, J. P. Pekola, S. Suomela, and J. Ankerhold
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.224303) - Exact propagation of open quantum systems in a systemreservoir context, Europhys. Lett. 115, 40010 (2016)
J. T. Stockburger
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1209/0295-5075/115/40010) - Sensing the quantum limit in scanning tunnelling spectroscopy, Nature Communications 7, 13009 (2016)
C. R. Ast, B. Jack, J. Senkpiel, M. Eltschka, M. Etzkorn, J. Ankerhold, and K. Kern
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms13009) - Currents and fluctuations of quantum heat transport in harmonic chains, New J. Phys. 19, 053013 (2017)
T. Motz, J. Ankerhold, and J. Stockburger
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/aa68bd) - Thermodynamic deficiencies of some simple Lindblad operators, Fortschr. Phys. 65, 1600067 (2017)
J. T. Stockburger and T. Motz
(See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/prop.201600067)
