Cryogenic sensor enabling broad-band and traceable power measurements.

Recently, great progress has been made in the field of ultrasensitive microwave detectors, reaching even the threshold for utilization in circuit quantum electrodynamics. However, cryogenic sensors lack the compatibility with broad-band metrologically traceable power absorption measurements at ultralow powers, which restricts their range of applications. Here, we demonstrate such measurements using an ultralow-noise nanobolometer, which we extend by an additional direct-current (dc) heater input.

Bolometer operating at the threshold for circuit quantum electrodynamics.

Radiation sensors based on the heating effect of absorbed radiation are typically simple to operate and flexible in terms of input frequency, so they are widely used in gas detection, security, terahertz imaging, astrophysical observations and medical applications. Several important applications are currently emerging from quantum technology and especially from electrical circuits that behave quantum mechanically, that is, circuit quantum electrodynamics. This field has given rise to single-photon microwave detectors and a quantum computer that is superior to classical supercomputers for certain tasks.

Flux-tunable phase shifter for microwaves.

We introduce a magnetic-flux-tunable phase shifter for propagating microwave photons, based on three equidistant superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) on a transmission line. We experimentally implement the phase shifter and demonstrate that it produces a broad range of phase shifts and full transmission within the experimental uncertainty. Together with previously demonstrated beam splitters, this phase shifter can be utilized to implement arbitrary single-qubit gates for qubits based on propagating microwave photons.