"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。基于蔡司ORION纳米制造工具，结合创新的低温技术，该工具可以用氖聚焦离子束原位修改超导量子电路，允许精确定制组件值，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原型量子器件快速发展的潜力，以及选择它们进行进一步测试的质量，例如在毫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将支持最近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。超导量子技术是构建量子计算机和新型传感与计量应用的关键基础技术之一。基于半导体加工中使用的制造技术，根据量子物理定律运行的电路的创造是令人惊讶的，因为该设备是第一个显示量子效应的人造物体（与原子、电子和光子等自然实体相反）。它们之所以更加神奇，是因为它们能够通过设计或构造进行修改，而这是自然量子物体无法做到的。作为量子电子（量子位）电路，它们具有解决所有可寻址性、可控性、受控量子位耦合和读出等问题的潜力，这些问题是许多基于自然量子对象的其他架构所难以解决的。b谷歌、IBM和雷神等大公司现在都在投资这一领域。新一代超导量子电路的探索和开发，包括量子超材料、相干量子相滑移（由此可能重新定义电流单位安培）、微波量子光学和量子有限放大以及多量子位器件的进一步发展，也是我们研究的关键目标。新工具将安装在皇家霍洛威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。我们将与英国国家物理实验室和兰开斯特大学建立强有力的合作关系，为英国学术界免费提供超导量子电路纳米制造设备。我们是英国第一个成功建立超导量子比特铸造厂的团队，我们将以我们最先进的能力为基础，提供一条从科学到技术的精简路线。新工厂将于2018年夏季开放，并将大力参与提供商业超导器件纳米制造服务。我们的总体目标是使英国成为超导量子技术的世界领导者。

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.