Wigner-function formalism for the detection of single microwave pulses in a resonator-coupled double quantum dot

TL;DR

This paper develops a Wigner-function formalism to analyze and visualize the detection of single microwave pulses in a double quantum dot-resonator system, revealing a trade-off between time and frequency detection and effects of Rabi oscillations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Wigner-function approach for modeling microwave pulse detection in quantum dot-resonator systems, extending previous monochromatic photon studies.

Findings

Visualization of time and frequency properties of the detector.

Identification of a time-frequency detection trade-off.

Influence of Rabi oscillations at higher intensities.

Abstract

Semiconductor double quantum dots (DQD) coupled to superconducting microwave resonators offer a promising platform for the detection of single microwave photons. In previous works, the photodetection was studied for a monochromatic source of microwave photons. Here, we theoretically analyze the photodetection of single microwave pulses. The photodetection in this case can be seen as a non-linear filtering process of an incoming signal, the pulse, to an outgoing one, the photocurrent. This analogy to signal processing motivated the derivation of a Wigner-function formalism which provides a compelling visualization of the time and frequency properties of the photodetector for low intensities. We find a trade-off between detecting the time and the frequency of the incoming photons in agreement with the time-energy uncertainty relation. As the intensity of the source increases, the photodetection is influenced by coherent Rabi oscillations of the DQD. Our findings give insight into the time-dependent properties of microwave photons interacting with electrons in a DQD-resonator hybrid system and provide guidance for experiments on single microwave pulse detection.