A direct controlled-phase gate between microwave photons

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Copetudo, Adrian, Kasper, Amon M., Krisnanda, Tanjung, Veyrac, Gregoire, Qin, Shushen, Ng, Hui Khoon, Gao, Yvonne Y.
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Copetudo, Adrian
Kasper, Amon M.
Krisnanda, Tanjung
Veyrac, Gregoire
Qin, Shushen
Ng, Hui Khoon
Gao, Yvonne Y.
author_facet Copetudo, Adrian
Kasper, Amon M.
Krisnanda, Tanjung
Veyrac, Gregoire
Qin, Shushen
Ng, Hui Khoon
Gao, Yvonne Y.
contents The rich dynamics and large Hilbert space of quantum harmonic oscillators make them natural candidates for hardware-efficient and error-correctable quantum information processing. However, implementing direct entangling operations between oscillators remains an outstanding challenge. Existing strategies typically rely on parametrically activating interactions that populate the excited states of a nonlinear element, which introduces additional dissipation channels and potential leakage from the encoded manifold. Here, we engineer a Raman-assisted cross-Kerr interaction between microwave photons hosted in two superconducting cavities. Crucially, this dynamics does not excite the mediating nonlinear coupler, thereby suppressing coupler induced decoherence and leakage out of the bosonic code space. We use this direct nonlinear coupling to implement a controlled-phase gate within the single- and two-photon subspaces of two oscillators, deterministically generating entanglement between them. Finally, we use these engineered dynamics to implement a photon-number parity check on a storage cavity via purely bosonic interactions with an ancillary cavity, demonstrating an enhancement in the storage lifetime. Our work provides a promising pathway toward engineering robust operations that act entirely within a protected bosonic code space and realizing fault-tolerant quantum information processing with bosonic elements.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_15587
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle A direct controlled-phase gate between microwave photons
Copetudo, Adrian
Kasper, Amon M.
Krisnanda, Tanjung
Veyrac, Gregoire
Qin, Shushen
Ng, Hui Khoon
Gao, Yvonne Y.
Quantum Physics
The rich dynamics and large Hilbert space of quantum harmonic oscillators make them natural candidates for hardware-efficient and error-correctable quantum information processing. However, implementing direct entangling operations between oscillators remains an outstanding challenge. Existing strategies typically rely on parametrically activating interactions that populate the excited states of a nonlinear element, which introduces additional dissipation channels and potential leakage from the encoded manifold. Here, we engineer a Raman-assisted cross-Kerr interaction between microwave photons hosted in two superconducting cavities. Crucially, this dynamics does not excite the mediating nonlinear coupler, thereby suppressing coupler induced decoherence and leakage out of the bosonic code space. We use this direct nonlinear coupling to implement a controlled-phase gate within the single- and two-photon subspaces of two oscillators, deterministically generating entanglement between them. Finally, we use these engineered dynamics to implement a photon-number parity check on a storage cavity via purely bosonic interactions with an ancillary cavity, demonstrating an enhancement in the storage lifetime. Our work provides a promising pathway toward engineering robust operations that act entirely within a protected bosonic code space and realizing fault-tolerant quantum information processing with bosonic elements.
title A direct controlled-phase gate between microwave photons
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.15587