(Newswire) Scientists at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), in Laurel, Maryland, have developed a new device for controlling and measuring qubits inside the low-temperature environment of quantum computers; the new device can be manipulated at lower frequency, without the need for microwave lines, thus reducing cost and complexity.
Their paper shows the design and modeling of a new type of tunable, microwave cavity tailored for quantum computing and quantum information experiments. The device consists of a metamaterial — a material made up of large artificial atoms — composed of an array of superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) that allow users to tune the properties of the cavity by applying a small magnetic field to the artificial atoms.
All of this can be done inside of a dilution refrigerator that is 20 thousandths of a degree above absolute zero, where traditional ways of doing this aren’t possible. “It’s an entirely new approach to device control that will be an important piece of scaling quantum computer systems to the larger sizes needed for more complex applications,” Shrekenhamer added.