Descripción del proyecto
FERMIcQED aims at interfacing novel quantum materials with microwave light at the level of the single photon and fermion. To achieve this ambitious goal, I plan to use low-dimensional quantum conductors – such as carbon nanotubes or semiconducting nanowires – combined with state-of-the-art architectures and techniques of circuit Quantum Electrodynamics. The idea consists in isolating an individual fermionic degree of freedom within a hybrid Josephson junction – a quantum dot connected to two superconductors. Due to the superconducting proximity effect, entangled electron-hole states – called the Andreev bound states – form in the quantum dot and depend on the superconducting phase difference. By enclosing the hybrid Josephson junction inside a superconducting photonic cavity, one can couple these fermionic states to microwave light and probe their quantum properties in a well-controlled environment.
Specifically, FERMIcQED will tackle three key experiments. First, we will detect the spin degree of freedom of the Andreev bound states and manipulate it coherently as a superconducting spin qubit. We will demonstrate strong coupling with cavity photons, which will enable quantum logic operations and long-range qubit interactions. Second, we will operate the hybrid Josephson junction in the topological regime in order to observe and manipulate Majorana fermions, thus implementing a topological qubit. At last, we will probe the joint entangled dynamics of bosonic and fermionic modes that coexist in hybrid Josephson junctions and simulate the spin-boson problem.