Critical slowing down in the bistable regime of circuit quantum electrodynamics

TL;DR

This paper studies the phenomenon of critical slowing down in a circuit QED system's bistable regime, revealing saturation effects and comparing experimental results with theoretical models to understand quantum activation processes.

Contribution

It provides the first detailed experimental characterization of critical slowing down in a circuit QED system's bistable regime, highlighting the limitations of the Duffing approximation.

Findings

Critical slowing down saturates with increased drive power.

Duffing approximation incorrectly predicts exponential increase in timescale.

GJC model accurately predicts saturation, indicating quantum activation effects.

Abstract

We investigate the dynamics of the bistable regime of the generalized Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian (GJC), realised by a circuit quantum electrodynamics (cQED) system consisting of a transmon qubit coupled to a microwave cavity. In this regime we observe critical slowing down in the approach to the steady state. By measuring the response of the cavity to a step function drive pulse we characterize this slowing down as a function of driving frequency and power. We find that the critical slowing down saturates as the driving power is increased. We compare these results with the predictions of analytical and numerical calculations both with and without the Duffing approximation. We find that the Duffing approximation incorrectly predicts that the critical slowing down timescale increases exponentially with the drive, whereas the GJC model accurately predicts the saturation seen in our data, suggesting a different process of quantum activation.