"in vivo" Modification of Superconducting Quantum Electronic Circuits

该奖项资助了一种独特的低温纳米制造工具，该工具具有卓越的成像能力，并有可能“在体内”修改量子电路。该工具以蔡司Orion纳米加工工具为基础，结合了少数开尔文状态下的创新低温技术，使超导量子电路能够通过聚焦的霓虹离子束进行原位修改，从而可以精确地定制元件值，并在超导状态下使用射频和直流探头进行测试，而无需打破真空。这样的前景极大地提高了快速开发原型量子器件的潜力，以及选择它们进行进一步测试的质量，例如在毫克开尔文温度下进行进一步测试或用于商业用途。此外，氦离子显微镜的成像能力还将支持最近获得资助的世界级电子束光刻系统，该集成工具能够在超导状态下以0.1 nm的分辨率成像和修改尺寸小于5 nm的特征。超导量子技术在世界范围内被视为构建量子计算机以及新型传感和计量应用的关键支撑技术之一。基于半导体加工中使用的制造技术，根据量子物理定律操作的电路的创造是惊人的，因为这些设备是第一个人造物体(而不是原子等自然实体，电子和光子)来显示量子效应。它们之所以更加奇妙，是因为它们能够通过设计或建造来进行修改，这是量子物体天然无法做到的。作为量子电子(量子比特)电路，它们具有解决可寻址、可控、受控量子比特耦合和读出的所有问题的潜力，这些问题是许多其他基于自然量子对象的体系结构难以解决的。谷歌、IBM和雷神等大公司现在都在这一领域进行投资。探索和开发新一代超导量子电路，包括量子超材料、相干量子相移(从而有可能重新定义电流单位安培)、微波量子光学和量子限幅放大以及进一步开发多量子比特器件也是我们研究的主要目标。新工具将安装在皇家霍洛韦的新纳米制造设施中，该设施是英国超导和混合量子系统合作中心的一部分。我们将与国家物理实验室和兰卡斯特大学建立一个财团，为英国学者提供超导量子电路纳米制造设施，并免费提供该领域的接入费用。我们是英国第一个成功建立超导量子比特铸造厂的集团，我们将以我们最先进的能力为基础，目标是提供一条从科学到技术的简化路线。新设施将于2018年夏季开业，并大力参与提供商业超导设备纳米制造服务。我们的总体目标是使英国成为超导量子技术的世界领先者。

The award funds a unique cryogenic nanofabrication tool with superior imaging capability and the possibility to modify quantum circuitry "in vivo". Based on the Zeiss ORION Nanaofabrication tool combined with innovative cryogenics in the few-Kelvin regime, the tool enables superconducting quantum circuitry to be modified in-situ with a focussed ion beam of Neon, allowing precision tailoring of component values and testing with radio frequency and DC probes in the superconducting state without the need to break vacuum. Such a prospect hugely enhances the potential for rapid development of prototype quantum devices and the quality with which they are selected for further testing, for example for further testing at milliKelvin temperatures or for commercial use. The imaging capabilities of the He-ion microscope will in addition support the recently funded world-class electron-beam-lithography system, the integrated tool being able to image and modify features of size less than 5 nm with 0.1 nm resolution while in the superconducting state.Superconducting Quantum Technology is regarded worldwide as one of the key underpinning technologies for the construction of a quantum computer and for novel sensing and metrology applications.Based on fabrication techniques used in semi-conductor processing, the creation of electrical circuits that operate according to the laws of quantum physics is astonishing in that the devices are the first man made objects (as opposed to natural entities such as atoms, electrons and photons) to display quantum effects. They are all the more fantastic because of their ability to be modified by design or construction in ways that naturally quantum objects cannot. As quantum electrical (qubit) circuits, they hold the potential to solve all of the problems of addressability, controllability, controlled qubit coupling and readout that many other architectures based on natural quantum objects find difficult. Major corporations such as Google, IBM and Raytheon are now investing in this field. The exploration and exploitation of a new generation of Superconducting Quantum Circuits including quantum meta-materials, coherent quantum phase slip (with consequent potential for a redefinition of the unit of electrical current, the Ampere), microwave quantum optics and quantum limited amplification as well as further development of multi-qubit devices are also key objectives of our research.The new tool will be installed in the new nanofabrication facility at Royal Holloway, part of a UK Centre for Superconducting and hybrid Quantum Systems collaboration. We will build on our strong collaborations with the National Physical Laboratory and Lancaster University in a consortium that can offer Superconducting Quantum Circuit nanofabrication facilities to UK academics the field free of access charges. We were the first group in the UK to successfully establish a superconducting qubit foundry and we will build on our state-of-the-art capability with the aim of providing a streamlined route from science to technology. The new facility opens in summer 2018 and is also strongly involved in providing commercial superconducting device nanofabrication services. Our overall aim is to establish the UK as a world leader in superconducting quantum technology.