RQS Seminar: Kellen O'Brien

Date
Thu, Feb 12, 2026 11:00 am - 12:00 pm
Location
PSC 2136 and Virtual Via Zoom: https://umd.zoom.us/j/99942795838

Description

Title:  A Circuit-QED Lattice System with Flexible Connectivity and Gapped Flat Bands for Photon-Mediated Spin Models
Speaker:  Kellen O'Brien (JQI)
Date & Time:  February 12, 2026, 11:00am
Where to Attend:  PSC 2136 and Virtual Via Zoom: https://umd.zoom.us/j/99942795838

Quantum spin models are ubiquitous in solid-state physics, but classical simulation of them remains extremely challenging. Experimental testbed systems with a variety of spin-spin interactions and measurement channels are therefore needed. One promising potential route to such testbeds is provided by microwave-photon-mediated interactions between superconducting qubits, where native strong light-matter coupling enables significant interactions even for virtual-photon-mediated processes. In this approach, the spin-model connectivity is set by the photonic mode structure, rather than the spatial structure of the qubit. Lattices of coplanar-waveguide (CPW) resonators have been demonstrated to allow extremely flexible connectivities and can therefore host a huge variety of photon-mediated spin models. However, large-scale CPW lattices with non-trivial band structures have never before been successfully combined with superconducting qubits. Here we present the first such device featuring a quasi-1D CPW lattice with multiple transmon qubits. We demonstrate that superconducting-qubit readout and diagnostic techniques can be generalized to this highly multimode environment and observe the effective qubit-qubit interaction mediated by the bands of the resonator lattice. This device completes the toolkit needed to realize CPW lattices with qubits in one or two Euclidean dimensions, or negatively-curved hyperbolic space, and paves the way to driven-dissipative spin models with a large variety of connectivities.

Lunch will be served.

*We strongly encourage attendees to use their full name (and if possible, their UMD credentials) to join the zoom session.*