Abstract: A device comprises a first superconducting quantum bit, a second superconducting quantum bit, and a coupler circuit. The first superconducting quantum bit comprises a superconducting tunnel junction and a shunt inductor which form a first superconducting loop. The second superconducting quantum bit comprises a superconducting tunnel junction and a shunt inductor which form a second superconducting loop. The coupler circuit is coupled between the first and second superconducting quantum bits. The coupler circuit is configured to implement an entanglement gate operation between the first and second superconducting quantum bits through exchange interactions between the coupler circuit and the first superconducting quantum bit and the second superconducting quantum bit, when the coupler circuit is driven by a control signal.

Abstract: One or more systems, devices, methods of use and/or methods of fabrication provided herein relate to a superconducting device that can be operated with minimal electric field energy coupling at surface layers of the superconducting device and/or that can have a small footprint. According to one embodiment, a device can comprise a Josephson junction located between a first capacitor portion and a second capacitor portion of a capacitor, wherein at least a trenched section of the first capacitor portion is located beneath a surface of a substrate, and wherein at least a trenched section of the second capacitor portion is located beneath the surface of the substrate. According to another embodiment, a device can comprise a capacitor disposed within a substrate layer and the capacitor comprising a pair of material-filled trenches in the substrate layer, and a Josephson junction coupled to the capacitor.

Abstract: Techniques regarding shielded superconducting qubits are provided. For example, one or more embodiments described herein can include an apparatus that can comprise a superconducting qubit positioned adjacent to a superconducting ground plane on a substrate. Also, the apparatus can comprise a superconducting shield layer positioned between the superconducting qubit and the superconducting ground plane.

Abstract: Circuits and methods of operation that can facilitate reducing surface losses for quantum devices are provided. In one example, a quantum device can comprise a dielectric layer, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The dielectric layer can comprise a recess formed in a surface of the dielectric layer that reduces a thickness of the dielectric layer from a first thickness external to a footprint of the recess to a second thickness within the footprint of the recess. The second thickness can be less than the first thickness. The first electrode can be positioned within the footprint of the recess. The second electrode can be electrically isolated from the first electrode by the dielectric layer. The first and second electrodes can be positioned on opposing surfaces of the dielectric layer.

Abstract: Systems and techniques that facilitate trimmable inductors for qubit frequency tuning are provided. In various embodiments, a device can comprise a Josephson junction. In various aspects, the Josephson junction can be shunted by a capacitor, and a trimmable inductor can couple the Josephson junction to a pad of the capacitor. In various cases, the trimmable inductor can comprise a first conductive path that includes a severable and/or weldable superconducting bridge and a second conductive path that is in parallel with the first conductive path. In various aspects, severing and/or welding the severable and/or weldable superconducting bridge can controllably change an inductance of the trimmable inductor, which can commensurately change a resonant frequency of a qubit formed by the Josephson junction and the capacitor.

Abstract: Circuits and methods of operation that can facilitate reducing surface losses for quantum devices are provided. In one example, a quantum device can comprise a dielectric layer, a first electrode, and a second electrode. The dielectric layer can comprise a recess formed in a surface of the dielectric layer that reduces a thickness of the dielectric layer from a first thickness external to a footprint of the recess to a second thickness within the footprint of the recess. The second thickness can be less than the first thickness. The first electrode can be positioned within the footprint of the recess. The second electrode can be electrically isolated from the first electrode by the dielectric layer. The first and second electrodes can be positioned on opposing surfaces of the dielectric layer.

Abstract: A magnetic resonance force detection apparatus, comprising a sample carrier for carrying a sample to be tested, a magnetic field source and a support for supporting either the sample carrier or the magnetic field source. The magnetic field source is configured to expose the sample to a magnetic field by simultaneously providing a plurality of volumes in which the magnetic field is configured to cause the spins of one or more nuclei or electrons in the sample to flip, and wherein the flipping of spins exerts a force on the support. The apparatus also comprises a support displacement measuring sensor configured to measure the displacement of the support and generate a signal representative of the displacement of the support, and a processor configured to process the signal representative of the displacement of the support in order to determine a component of the displacement of the support caused by one or more of the plurality of volumes.

Abstract: A magnetic resonance force detection apparatus, comprising a sample carrier for carrying a sample to be tested, a magnetic field source and a support for supporting either the sample carrier or the magnetic field source. The magnetic field source is configured to expose the sample to a magnetic field by simultaneously providing a plurality of volumes in which the magnetic field is configured to cause the spins of one or more nuclei or electrons in the sample to flip, and wherein the flipping of spins exerts a force on the support. The apparatus also comprises a support displacement measuring sensor configured to measure the displacement of the support and generate a signal representative of the displacement of the support, and a processor configured to process the signal representative of the displacement of the support in order to determine a component of the displacement of the support caused by one or more of the plurality of volumes.

Abstract: An optical disk drive uses an air-bearing slider that supports a solid immersion lens (SIL) with a patterned thin film formed at the focus of the SIL to act as a secondary radiation source. The thin film is patterned to define either an "aperture" or a "scatterer", both of which localize the interaction of the disk drive's incident light beam with the underlying optical disk to create an effectively smaller light spot. In one embodiment the patterned thin film is opaque with a small aperture having a diameter less than the wavelength of the incident light beam. The aperture localizes the transmission of the incident light beam to the area of the aperture and generates an evanescent field that interacts with the optical disk. In a second embodiment, the patterned thin film is metallic and formed as dot that serves as a scatterer. The scatterer acts as an antenna or secondary light source to locally reradiate a portion of the incident light beam to the optical disk.

Abstract: An atomic force microscope (AFM) uses a spin valve magnetoresistive strain gauge formed on the AFM cantilever to detect deflection of the cantilever. The spin valve strain gauge operates in the absence of an applied magnetic field. The spin valve strain gauge is formed on the AFM cantilever as a plurality of films, one of which is a free ferromagnetic layer that has nonzero magnetostriction and whose magnetic moment is free to rotate in the presence of an applied magnetic field. In the presence of an applied stress to the free ferromagnetic layer due to deflection of the cantilever, an angular displacement of the magnetic moment of the free ferromagnetic layer occurs, which results in a change in the electrical resistance of the spin valve strain gauge. Electrical resistance detection circuitry coupled to the spin valve strain gauge is used to determine cantilever deflection.

Abstract: An atomic force microscope (AFM) based data storage disk drive uses a cantilever structure that provides independent detection of vertical and lateral motion of the AFM tip as a track with data marks moves past the tip. The vertical detection of the tip deflection toward and away from the disk surface is used for data detection of the data marks that form the tracks. The lateral detection of the tip deflection in a direction generally parallel to the plane of the disk surface is used as the input signal to a tracking servo control system to maintain the tip on a data track. The cantilever structure includes a base connected to the disk drive actuator, a beam made up of a plurality of ribs that have their fixed ends connected to the base, and a probe connected to the free ends of the ribs. The beam ribs have piezoresistors connected to electrical circuitry that detects a resistance change as the ribs are bent laterally.

Abstract: An atomic force microscope (AFM) system has a bidirectional actuator to move the AFM tip or stylus in a plane parallel to the surface of the sample to be scanned as well as perpendicularly to the surface of the sample. The actuator is a modified voice coil motor actuator of the type used in compact disc (CD) drives. The stylus is mounted at the end of a support arm that is held in the actuator by a flexure, the flexure permitting movement in the two directions. A set of permanent magnets and two sets of independently controllable electric coils allow the support arm to be moved in the two directions. In a data storage application, a data disk has a series of surface features that represent machine-readable data and the bidirectional actuator is supported by a secondary actuator that moves the primary actuator along a radius of the disk. This allows the bidirectional actuator with the attached stylus to be located to a coarse position within a desired band of data tracks.

Abstract: An atomic force microscope system incorporates a single-crystal silicon cantilever with an integral tip. The cantilever is supported in the AFM system so that it makes an acute angle with the surface of the sample to be scanned. The tip is formed by the convergence of three planes, one of which is one of the two generally parallel planes which define the thickness of the cantilever. The tip lies between the cantilever's two thickness-defining planar surfaces and is thus an in-plane integral tip. The AFM system may have the cantilever surface that converges to the tip oriented to either face the sample or face away from the sample.