Vibronic spectroscopy of an artificial molecule

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates a novel artificial molecule combining electronic states of a Josephson-junction qubit with vibrational modes, revealing vibronic transitions analogous to real molecules, with potential applications in quantum control.

Contribution

It introduces a new type of artificial molecule that includes both electronic and vibrational states, expanding the analogy to true molecular systems.

Findings

Observation of vibronic transitions in the artificial molecule

Damping observed up to sidebands of order 10

Potential for sideband cooling of the oscillator

Abstract

With advanced fabrication techniques it is possible to make nanoscale electronic structures that have discrete energy levels. Such structures are called artificial atoms because of analogy with true atoms. Examples of such atoms are quantum dots in semiconductor heterostructures and Josephson-junction qubits. It is also possible to have artificial atoms interacting with each other. This is an artificial molecule in the sense that the electronic states are analogous to the ones in a molecule. In this letter we present a different type of artificial molecule that, in addition to electronic states, also includes the analog of nuclear vibrations in a diatomic molecule. Some of the earlier experiments could be interpreted using this analogy, including qubits coupled to oscillators and qubits driven by an intense field. In our case the electronic states of the molecule are represented by a Josephson-junction qubit, and the nuclear separation corresponds to the magnetic flux in a loop containing the qubit and an LC oscillator. We probe the vibronic transitions, where both the electronic and vibrational states change simultaneously, and find that they are analogous to true molecules. The vibronic transitions could be used for sideband cooling of the oscillator, and we see damping up to sidebands of order 10.