Parametric amplification and squeezing with an ac- and dc-voltage biased superconducting junction
Udson C. Mendes, Sébastien Jezouin, Philippe Joyez, Bertrand Reulet, Alexandre Blais, Fabien Portier, Christophe Mora, Carles Altimiras · Physical Review Applied · 2019
In the quest to realize a quantum computer, physicists are dealing with signals that can be as weak as a single microwave photon. To detect such signals with sufficient quantum efficiency to implement $e.g.$ quantum error correction, they must be amplified within the cryostat, and the amplifier itself must be a quantum device. To this end, the authors present a broadband, nearly quantum-limited parametric amplifier based on the tunneling of quasiparticles in a superconducting junction. This development may allow the generation of microwave continuous-variable cluster states, and is expected to have great impact on quantum information science.