Superconducting switch for fast on-chip routing of quantum microwave fields

Understand

A switch capable of routing microwave signals at cryogenic temperatures is a desirable component for state-of-the-art experiments in many fields of applied physics, including but not limited to quantum information processing, communication and basic research in engineered quantum systems.

• Conventional mechanical switches provide low insertion loss but disturb operation of dilution cryostats and the associated experiments by heat dissipation.
• Switches based on semiconductors or microelectromechanical systems have a lower thermal budget but are not readily integrated with current superconducting circuits.
• Here we design and test an on-chip switch built by combining tunable transmission-line resonators with microwave beam-splitters.