Technical and Support Staff

Here we use superconducting circuits as components for quantum computing and as model systems for non-linear dynamics. Quantum computation holds the potential to solve problems currently intractable with today’s computers. Information in a quantum computer is stored on quantum variables, and that information is processed by making those variables interact in a way that preserves quantum coherence. Typically, these variables consist of two quantum states, and the quantum device is called a quantum bit or qubit. Superconducting quantum circuits have been proposed as qubits, in which circulating currents of opposite polarity characterize the two quantum states. The goal of the present research is to use superconducting quantum circuits to realize a fully functional qubit, to perform measurement of these qubits, to model the sources of decoherence, and to develop scalable algorithms. A particularly promising feature of using superconducting technology is the potential of developing high-speed, on-chip control circuitry with classical, high-speed superconducting electronics. The picosecond time scales of this electronics means that the superconducting qubits can be controlled rapidly enough that the qubits remain phase-coherent over the lifetime of the computation. Superconducting circuits are also model systems for collections of coupled classical non-linear oscillators. Recently we have demonstrated a ratchet potential using arrays of Josephson junctions as well as th