Perfect Microwave Photodetection in Circuit QED

TL;DR

This paper proposes a highly efficient microwave photon detector in circuit QED using a metastable quantum circuit, achieving near-perfect detection with robustness and broadband capabilities.

Contribution

It introduces a simplified, highly efficient microwave photon detector design with multiple operating modes and robustness, advancing quantum photodetection technology.

Findings

Achieves 100% detection efficiency with a single absorber.

Operates effectively with detuned photons and is robust against imperfections.

Can be made broadband by incorporating multiple absorbers.

Abstract

In this work we propose a microwave photon detector which successfully reaches 100% efficiency with only one absorber. Our design consists of a metastable quantum circuit coupled to a semi-infinite transmission line which performs highly efficient photodetection in a simplified manner as compared to previous proposals. We extensively study the scattering properties of realistic wavepackets against this device, thereby computing the efficiency of the detector. We find that the detector has many operating modes, can detect detuned photons, is robust against design imperfections and can be made broadband by using more than one absorbing element in the design.