Description:

Superconducting devices are currently one of the main candidates for the implementation of quantum computers. These devices have features that make them interesting for quantum sensing as well. I will discuss two approaches for quantum sensing using these systems.

The first topic is the use of superconducting flux qubits as magnetometers. Detection of magnetic fields using a Ramsey protocol, similarly to atomic magnetometry, leverages the large effective magnetic moment of flux qubits, and leads to very high detection efficiency potentially exceeding that of other magnetometers. 

The second topic is quantum sensing based on superconducting levitodynamics. Levitated superconductors were shown recently to achieve very low loss rates at milliKelvin temperatures. Coupling levitated superconducting spheres to superconducting qubits and resonators enables new protocols for mechanical state detection with applications to sensing of inertial and gravitational forces and to fundamental investigations related to dark matter detection and gravity.

 Adrian Lupascu, Associate Professor, University of Waterloo, Ontario

Host: Venkat Chandrasekhar