SAW Devices for Coupling Superconducting Quantum Systems

Surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are heavily used in classical signal processing applications. SAWs have also been proposed as a method to coherently couple disparate solid-state quantum systems, such as superconducting and semiconducting qubits. In this talk, we report the development of SAW devices to couple superconducting quantum devices to one another. We explore SAW devices ranging in frequency from 0.6 to 4 GHz, in terms of design, fabrication and characterization measurements. We focus specifically on the Distributive Acoustic Reflection Transducer (DART), a uni-directional transducer that has not previously been developed for applications above a few hundred MHz, and the multi-strip coupler (MSC), used to fan-out the coupling signal. We examine the influence of material properties on the performance of these devices, as well as design considerations including impedance matching and electrical bandwidths.

Supported by Argonne National Lab through LDRD 2017-092-N0, AFOSR MURI FA9550-15-1-0029, UChicago MRSEC (NSF DMR-1420709), the UChicago PNF SHyNE NNCI node (NSF ECCS-1542205), ARL agreement W911NF-15-2-0058 and the DOE Office of Basic Energy Sciences.