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We introduce Cryoscope, a method for sampling on-chip baseband pulses used to dynamically control qubit frequency in a quantum processor. We specifically use Cryoscope to measure the step response of the dedicated flux control lines of two-junction transmon qubits in circuit QED processors with the temporal resolution of the room-temperature arbitrary waveform generator producing the control pulses. As a first application, we iteratively improve this step response using optimized real-time digital filters to counter the linear-dynamical distortion in the control line, as needed for high-fidelity, repeatable one- and two-qubit gates based on dynamical control of qubit frequency. more...

A Bell test is a randomized trial that compares experimental observations against the philosophical worldview of local realism. A Bell test requires spatially distributed entanglement, fast and high-efficiency detection and unpredictable measurement settings. Although technology can satisfy the first two of these requirements, the use of physical devices to choose settings in a Bell test involves making assumptions about the physics that one aims to test. Bell himself noted this weakness in using physical setting choices and argued that human `free will' could be used rigorously to ensure unpredictability in Bell tests. Here we report a set of local-realism tests using human choices, which avoids assumptions about predictability in physics. We recruited about 100,000 human participants to play an online video game that incentivizes fast, sustained input of unpredictable selections and illustrates Bell-test methodology. The participants generated 97,347,490 binary choices, which were directed via a scalable web platform to 12 laboratories on five continents, where 13 experiments tested local realism using photons, single atoms, atomic ensembles, and superconducting devices. Over a 12-hour period on 30 November 2016, participants worldwide provided a sustained data flow of over 1,000 bits per second to the experiments, which used different human-generated data to choose each measurement setting. The observed correlations strongly contradict local realism and other realistic positions in bipartite and tripartite scenarios. Project outcomes include closing the `freedom-of-choice loophole' (the possibility that the setting choices are influenced by `hidden variables' to correlate with the particle properties), the utilization of video-game methods for rapid collection of human generated randomness, and the use of networking techniques for global participation in experimental science., Comment: This version includes minor changes resulting from reviewer and editorial input. Abstract shortened to fit within arXiv limits more...

The speed of quantum gates and measurements is a decisive factor for the overall fidelity of quantum protocols when performed on physical qubits with finite coherence time. Reducing the time required to distinguish qubit states with high fidelity is therefore a critical goal in quantum information science. The state-of-the-art readout of superconducting qubits is based on the dispersive interaction with a readout resonator. Here, we bring this technique to its current limit and demonstrate how the careful design of system parameters leads to fast and high-fidelity measurements without affecting qubit coherence. We achieve this result by increasing the dispersive interaction strength, by choosing an optimal linewidth of the readout resonator, by employing a Purcell filter, and by utilizing phase-sensitive parametric amplification. In our experiment, we measure 98.25% readout fidelity in only 48 ns, when minimizing read-out time, and 99.2% in 88 ns, when maximizing the fidelity, limited predominantly by the qubit lifetime of 7.6 us. The presented scheme is also expected to be suitable for integration into a multiplexed readout architecture., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures; fixed pdf compile bug with the e' in Y. Salathe more...

Low-loss waveguides are required for quantum communication at distances beyond the chip-scale for any low-temperature solid-state implementation of quantum information processors. We measure and analyze the attenuation constant of commercially available microwave-frequency waveguides down to millikelvin temperatures and single photon levels. More specifically, we characterize the frequency-dependent loss of a range of coaxial and rectangular microwave waveguides down to $0.005\,\rm{dB}/\rm{m}$ using a resonant-cavity technique. We study the loss tangent and relative permittivity of commonly used dielectric waveguide materials by measurements of the internal quality factors and their comparison with established loss models. The results of our characterization are relevant for accurately predicting the signal levels at the input of cryogenic devices, for reducing the loss in any detection chain, and for estimating the heat load induced by signal dissipation in cryogenic systems. more...

Systems of interacting quantum spins show a rich spectrum of quantum phases and display interesting many-body dynamics. Computing characteristics of even small systems on conventional computers poses significant challenges. A quantum simulator has the potential to outperform standard computers in calculating the evolution of complex quantum systems. Here, we perform a digital quantum simulation of the paradigmatic Heisenberg and Ising interacting spin models using a two transmon-qubit circuit quantum electrodynamics setup. We make use of the exchange interaction naturally present in the simulator to construct a digital decomposition of the model-specific evolution and extract its full dynamics. This approach is universal and efficient, employing only resources which are polynomial in the number of spins and indicates a path towards the controlled simulation of general spin dynamics in superconducting qubit platforms., Comment: 12 pages, 9 figures more...

We demonstrate a coupled cavity realization of a Bose Hubbard dimer to achieve quantum limited amplification and to generate frequency entangled microwave fields with squeezing parameters well below -12 dB. In contrast to previous implementations of parametric amplifiers our dimer can be operated both as a degenerate and as a nondegenerate amplifier. The large measured gain-bandwidth product of more than 250 MHz for nondegenerate operation and the saturation at input photon numbers as high as 2000 per us are both expected to be improvable even further, while maintaining wide frequency tunability of about 2 GHz. Featuring flexible control over all relevant system parameters, the presented Bose-Hubbard dimer based on lumped element circuits has significant potential as an elementary cell in nonlinear cavity arrays for quantum simulation. more...

Transferring the state of an information carrier from a sender to a receiver is an essential primitive in both classical and quantum communication and information processing. In a quantum process known as teleportation the unknown state of a quantum bit can be relayed to a distant party using shared entanglement and classical information. Here we present experiments in a solid-state system based on superconducting quantum circuits demonstrating the teleportation of the state of a qubit at the macroscopic scale. In our experiments teleportation is realized deterministically with high efficiency and achieves a high rate of transferred qubit states. This constitutes a significant step towards the realization of repeaters for quantum communication at microwave frequencies and broadens the tool set for quantum information processing with superconducting circuits., Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures more...