Docent lecture with Simone Gasparinetti, MC2

​Title: Detecting single microwave photons and thermal radiation with superconducting circuits

Abstract: 

Detecting microwave radiation at the single-photon level is relevant for applications to quantum communication, sensing, and computing. While highly-efficient photodetectors exist in the optical domain, their microwave counterparts have remained elusive until very recently, mainly due to the small photon energy involved. 

In this lecture I will review some approaches to microwave photodetection with superconducting circuits, including absorption by a microcalorimeter, capture by a single artificial atom, and qubit-photon entangling gates. 

Finally, I will describe a continuous detector of thermal microwave radiation with applications in quantum computing and quantum thermodynamics.

​Coffee ​will be served outside the lecture hall from 10.45