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Amplitude spectroscopy of a solid-state artificial atom

Nature volume 455, pages 51–57 (2008)Cite this article

Abstract

The energy-level structure of a quantum system, which has a fundamental role in its behaviour, can be observed as discrete lines and features in absorption and emission spectra. Conventionally, spectra are measured using frequency spectroscopy, whereby the frequency of a harmonic electromagnetic driving field is tuned into resonance with a particular separation between energy levels. Although this technique has been successfully employed in a variety of physical systems, including natural and artificial atoms and molecules, its application is not universally straightforward and becomes extremely challenging for frequencies in the range of tens to hundreds of gigahertz. Here we introduce a complementary approach, amplitude spectroscopy, whereby a harmonic driving field sweeps an artificial atom through the avoided crossings between energy levels at a fixed frequency. Spectroscopic information is obtained from the amplitude dependence of the system’s response, thereby overcoming many of the limitations of a broadband-frequency-based approach. The resulting ‘spectroscopy diamonds’, the regions in parameter space where transitions between specific pairs of levels can occur, exhibit interference patterns and population inversion that serve to distinguish the atom’s spectrum. Amplitude spectroscopy provides a means of manipulating and characterizing systems over an extremely broad bandwidth, using only a single driving frequency that may be orders of magnitude smaller than the energy scales being probed.

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Figure 1: Amplitude spectroscopy with long-pulse driving towards saturation.
Figure 2: Energy-level slopes and interference patterns.
Figure 3: Amplitude spectroscopy with short-pulse driving.
Figure 4: Identification of transverse qubit states.

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Acknowledgements

We thank A. Shytov, J. Bylander, B. Turek, A. J. Kerman and J. Sage for discussions and D. Baker, V. Bolkhovsky, G. Fitch, E. Macedo, P. Murphy, K. Parrillo, R. Slattery and T. Weir at Lincoln Laboratory, MIT, for technical assistance. This work was supported by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (F49620-01-1-0457) under the Defense University Research Initiative in Nanotechnology programme, and by the US government. The work at Lincoln Laboratory was sponsored by the US Department of Defence under Air Force Contract No. FA8721-05-C-0002.

Author information

Author notes

  1. Sergio O. Valenzuela & Karl K. Berggren

    Present address: Present addresses: ICREA and Centre d’Investigacions en Nanociència i Nanotecnologia, UAB Campus, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain (S.O.V.); Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA (K.K.B.).,

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics,,

    David M. Berns, Mark S. Rudner & Leonid S. Levitov

  2. Research Laboratory for Electronics,,

    David M. Berns, William D. Oliver & Terry P. Orlando

  3. Francis Bitter Magnet Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA ,

    Sergio O. Valenzuela

  4. Lincoln Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 244 Wood Street, Lexington, Massachusetts 02420, USA ,

    Karl K. Berggren & William D. Oliver

  5. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139, USA,

    Terry P. Orlando

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  1. David M. Berns
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Correspondence to William D. Oliver.

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Berns, D., Rudner, M., Valenzuela, S. et al. Amplitude spectroscopy of a solid-state artificial atom. Nature 455, 51–57 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature07262

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