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News Release 04-113

Physicists Create Artificial Molecule On A Chip

The Superconducting Cooper Pair Box (purple) acts like an artificial atom, or qubit

In circuit QED experiments, a photon trapped between the transmission lines (tan) couples to the ...


September 8, 2004

This material is available primarily for archival purposes. Telephone numbers or other contact information may be out of date; please see current contact information at media contacts.

Using integrated circuit fabrication techniques, a team of researchers from Yale University has bound a single photon to a superconducting device engineered to behave like a single atom, forming an artificial molecule. It’s the first experimental result in a field Yale professors Robert Schoelkopf and Steven Girvin have dubbed Circuit Quantum Electrodynamics.

The superconducting devices can be operated as qubits, the basic element of information storage in the field of quantum computing. In the September 9th issue of the journal Nature, Andreas Wallraff and his colleagues present telltale evidence that their qubit was coupling to a microwave photon, sharing energy in much the same way electrons are shared when two atoms combine to form a molecule. They offered two suggestions for naming the new, combined state: phobit or quton.

Qutons have been made before, the first about 12 years ago. But by using artificial atoms for their qubits instead of real ones, and microwave transmission lines instead of optical cavities, the Yale physicists were able to shrink a roomful of experimental apparatus onto a chip less than 1 square centimeter (or less than ¼ square inch) in size. They have also improved the coupling between resonator and “atom” by a factor of about 1000, which will help them explore fundamental interactions of light and matter. Soon they will try to control several qubits on one chip, using photons to connect them together in a prototype architecture for quantum computing and quantum cryptography.

-NSF-

Media Contacts
Philip Lippel, NSF, (703) 292-7741, email: plippel@nsf.gov
Janet Emanuel, Yale University, (203) 432-2157, email: janet.emanuel@yale.edu

Program Contacts
Hollis Wickman, NSF, (703) 292-4929, email: hwickman@nsf.gov

Principal Investigators
Steven Girvin, Yale University, (203) 432-5082, email: steven.girvin@yale.edu
Robert Schoelkopf, Yale University, (203) 432-4289, email: rob.schoelkopf@yale.edu

The U.S. National Science Foundation propels the nation forward by advancing fundamental research in all fields of science and engineering. NSF supports research and people by providing facilities, instruments and funding to support their ingenuity and sustain the U.S. as a global leader in research and innovation. With a fiscal year 2023 budget of $9.5 billion, NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 40,000 competitive proposals and makes about 11,000 new awards. Those awards include support for cooperative research with industry, Arctic and Antarctic research and operations, and U.S. participation in international scientific efforts.

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