Events on Tuesday, February 4th, 2025
- Thesis Defense
- Novel Quantum Devices for Computation and Sensing
- Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am
- Place: 5310 CH
- Speaker: Abigail Shearrow, Physics PhD student
- Abstract: Josephson junction-based devices have demonstrated utility in a breadth of applications ranging from quantum computation to sensing and meteorology. In this talk we introduce two novel superconducting devices: a protected qubit relying on engineered composite Josephson elements and a mm-wave detector utilizing a Josephson junction for impedance matching to free space to enhance power absorption efficiency. First we introduce a novel quantum sensor, consisting of impedance-matched Josephson junction-based slot antennas embedded in a microwave kinetic inductance detector. We discuss operating principles and design of such devices. We present data on the response of devices to a thermal quasiparticle distribution and the calibration of the detector using a blackbody source. And finally spectroscopic characterization of the devices with a Josephson emitter. In the second part of this thesis we describe work toward the design, control, and characterization of a novel protected qubit, the charge-parity qubit, consisting of a composite pi-periodic Josephson element shunted by a large capacitance. Such a device provides protection against local noise at the hardware level and aspires to substantially reduce the overhead needed for quantum error correction. Together these projects demonstrate the versatility the Josephson junction in superconducting quantum devices.
- Host: Robert McDermott