Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscopy in the Single Photon Regime

S Geaney; D Cox; T Hönigl-Decrinis; R Shaikhaidarov; S E Kubatkin; T Lindström; A V Danilov; S E de Graaf

doi:10.1038/s41598-019-48780-3

Near-Field Scanning Microwave Microscopy in the Single Photon Regime

Sci Rep. 2019 Aug 29;9(1):12539. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-48780-3.

Authors

S Geaney^{1

2}, D Cox³, T Hönigl-Decrinis⁴, R Shaikhaidarov⁵, S E Kubatkin⁶, T Lindström⁴, A V Danilov⁶, S E de Graaf⁷

Affiliations

¹ National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 0LW, UK. shaun.geaney@npl.co.uk.
² Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK. shaun.geaney@npl.co.uk.
³ Advanced Technology Institute, The University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, UK.
⁴ National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 0LW, UK.
⁵ Royal Holloway, University of London, Egham, TW20 0EX, UK.
⁶ Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96, Göteborg, Sweden.
⁷ National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, Teddington, TW11 0LW, UK. sdg@npl.co.uk.

Abstract

The microwave properties of nano-scale structures are important in a wide variety of applications in quantum technology. Here we describe a low-power cryogenic near-field scanning microwave microscope (NSMM) which maintains nano-scale dielectric contrast down to the single microwave photon regime, up to 10⁹ times lower power than in typical NSMMs. We discuss the remaining challenges towards developing nano-scale NSMM for quantum coherent interaction with two-level systems as an enabling tool for the development of quantum technologies in the microwave regime.