Quantum non-demolition detection of single microwave photons in a circuit

B. R. Johnson, M. D. Reed, A. A. Houck, D. I. Schuster, Lev S. Bishop, E. Ginossar, J. M. Gambetta, L. Dicarlo, L. Frunzio, S. M. Girvin, R. J. Schoelkopf

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

229 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thorough control of quantum measurement is key to the development of quantum information technologies. Many measurements are destructive, removing more information from the system than they obtain. Quantum non-demolition (QND) measurements allow repeated measurements that give the same eigenvalue1. They could be used for several quantum information processing tasks such as error correction 2 , preparation by measurement 3 and one-way quantum computing 4 . Achieving QND measurements of photons is especially challenging because the detector must be completely transparent to the photons while still acquiring information about them5,6. Recent progress in manipulating microwave photons in superconducting circuits 7-9 has increased demand for a QND detector that operates in the gigahertz frequency range. Here we demonstrate a QND detection scheme that measures the number of photons inside a high-quality-factor microwave cavity on a chip. This scheme maps a photon number, n, onto a qubit state in a single-shot by means of qubit-photon logic gates.We verify the operation of the device for nD0 and 1 by analysing the average correlations of repeated measurements, and show that it is 90% QND. It differs from previously reported detectors 5,8-11 because its sensitivity is strongly selective to chosen photon number states. This scheme could be used to monitor the state of a photon-based memory in a quantum computer.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)663-667
Number of pages5
JournalNature Physics
Volume6
Issue number9
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 2010

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • General Physics and Astronomy

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Quantum non-demolition detection of single microwave photons in a circuit'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this