Curator's Take
This research tackles a fundamental challenge in quantum computing: scaling up entanglement generation in superconducting circuits, which are the backbone of most commercial quantum computers today. While optical systems can create large entangled cluster states needed for certain quantum computing architectures, microwave circuits used in superconducting qubits face unique dissipation challenges that make direct translation difficult. The team's discovery that multiple pump tones actually reduce two-mode squeezing by spreading correlations across more modes provides crucial insights for optimizing Josephson parametric amplifiers, key components in quantum error correction and sensing applications. This work helps bridge the gap between theoretical quantum advantages and practical implementation in the noisy, lossy world of superconducting quantum hardware.
— Mark Eatherly
Summary
The creation of high-quality cluster states in superconducting microwave circuits is a relevant ingredient in continuous-variable quantum computing. Although large-scale cluster states have been established in optical systems, dissipation prevents their direct applicability to the microwave realm. Recent improvements in superconducting parametric circuits, in particular Josephson parametric amplifiers (JPA) and traveling wave parametric amplifiers (TWPA), have permitted substantial progress in producing entangled states using microwave photons. In this paper, we examine experimentally and theoretically the effects of numerous parametric pump tones on the degree of two-mode squeezing in a quantum circuit and apply it to the JPA. We find that additional pumps diminish the initial two-mode correlations achieved with a single pump by redistributing it among a larger network of modes and by introducing entanglement with additional idler frequencies. Taking into account the actual heterodyne measurement conditions, the experimental results are consistent with theoretical expectations.