Laboratory for Superconducting Metamaterials

Scientific results:

1. For the first time in Russia we measured a superconducting qubit – the main element for building quantum computers (2013).
2. For the first time in the world we implemented a quantum material made of 20 superconducting flux qubits (2014).
3. In collaboration with the Moscow Institute of Physics and technology and the Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences we produced and successfully tested a Russian superconducting qubit (2015). 
4. We developed an analytical model of a spiral resonator and researched metamaterials based on spiral resonators (2016).
5. For the first time in the world we researched two-dimensional arrays of superconducting meta-atoms with resonance frequencies in the microwave range and discovered their synchronization (2015).
6. We have developed a new type of superconducting qubits – so-called «mirror qubits», and materials based on them (2017).
7. The Laboratory developed a concept of a new superconducting bolometer with microwave readout that can be used in radio astronomy (2017).
8. Our researchers created a fundamentally new type of superconducting qubits based not on the Josephson junction but on spin superconducting nanowire (2018).
9. We developed the first Russian two-qubit quantum superconductor processor that was used to demonstrate the quantum Grover algorithm – a solution of the brute force search problem (2019).
10. The Laboratory developed a one-dimensional topologically non-trivial quantum metamaterial described by the Su–Schrieffer–Heeger on the basis of an array of 11 superconducting qubits (2020).
11. We have implemented a two-qubit quantum processor with adjustable interaction between the qubits. With this processor we demonstrated one-qubit gate operations with a precision of over 99,2% (2021).
12. For the first time in the world we demonstrated optical response of a superconducting terahertz bolometer with electron gas based on hafnium film with microwave readout and a sensitivity defined by the fundamental limit at an ultra-low temperature of 400 μK that can be used in radio-astronomy (2021). 

Implemented results of research:

• Invention «An amplifying superconducting nanomaterial», authors: Sergey V. Shitov, Stanislav V. Eismont, Alexey V. Ustinov, Russian Federation patent No. 2579813, priority granted on 30 December 2014.
• Invention «Dielectric metamaterial with toroid response», authors: Alexey A. Basharin, Ivan V. Stenishchev, Russian Federation patent No. 2666965, priority granted on 19 December 2016.
• Invention «Non-contact microrelief sensor», author: Sergey V. Shitov, Russian Federation patent No. 2688902, priority granted on 25 June 2018.
• Useful model «Camera for remote temperature control», authored by: Sergey V. Shitov, Russian Federation patent No. 188418, priority granted on 26 December 2018.
• Invention «Superconducting resistance thermometer», authors: Sergey V. Shitov, Vladimir I. Chichkov, Alexey A. Merenkov, Russian Federation patent No. 2756800, priority granted on 08 December 2020.
• Invention «Superconducting source of high-frequency noise», authored by: Tatyana M. Kim, Sergey V. Shitov, Russian Federation patent No. 2757858, priority granted on 21 April 2021.
• Invention «Superconducting source of thermodynamic noise», authors: Tatyana M. Kim, Sergey V. Shitov, Russian Federation patent No. 2757756, priority granted on 20 April 2021. 

At NUST MISIS we have created a modern well-equipped research zone with microwave and cryogenic devices that features an ISO 7 clean room and 5 cryostats with low and ultra-low temperatures. Undergraduate and postgraduate students of the Laboratory regularly complete internships at the Laboratory of the leading scientist Alexey V. Ustinov at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) and other universities and research centers in Russia and abroad.

Moreover, students undergo high-intensity training, attending lectures, schools and conferences in the Laboratory’s domain of research. Among the lecture courses we can distinguish the course «Superconducting qubits» read by the leading scientist Alexey V. Ustinov for undergraduate students of MIPT, NUST MISIS, MSU and other Moscow universities at the Russian Quantum Center (November–December 2012), the special course for undergraduate and postgraduate students of NUST MISIS «Superconductivity and its high-frequency applications», taught by Professor Andrey A. Varlamov (April–May 2012), the course «Experimental and analytical methods in applied superconductivity» taught by Professor Alexandr V. Karpov for master’s degree students of the Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies of NUST MISIS, the course by Professor Alexey V. Ustinov «Introduction to modern quantum technologies» for students of NUST MISIS and MIPT (2019–now), the lecture course of Professor Sergey V. Shitov for master’s degree students of the Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies of NUST MISIS «Superconducting microwave chips: development, manufacturing and testing» (2020 – now).

In collaboration with Department of Theoretical Physics and Quantum Technologies in NUST MISIS we staged the international conference «Interaction of superconductivity and magnetism in nanosystems» (2015).

In NUST MISIS we conducted the Schmidt series of seminars (2014–2018).

Together with MIPT and the Russian Quantum Center we conducted the international conference «Superconducting quantum technologies» (Moscow, 2018). 

Organizational and structural changes:

With the creation of the Laboratory a number of new infrastructure projects were launched in NUST MISIS: the project «Physical foundations of modern micro- and nanoelectronics, including superconducting electronics and spintronics» (supervised by Professor Valeriy Ryazanov in 2014),  «Nonlinear dynamics, entanglement and self-organization in physics and technologies» (supervised by Professor Georgios Tsironis in 2015), «Superconducting hybrid structures and metamaterials for elements of quantum electronics» (supervised by Professor Sergey V. Shitov in 2016), «Onset of quantum phases in materials with spin and charge ordering» (supervised by Siddharth Saxena in 2017), which allowed the Laboratory to significantly broaden both the volume of research and the infrastructural capabilities for solving fundamental problems.

In 2019, with support from the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia the infrastructural capabilities of the Laboratory for solving experimental problem improved significantly with the entry of two «Bluefors» LD250 closed-cycle cryostats into service , which complemented our collection of cryogenic equipment.

Other results:

• In 2016 the Laboratory became one of the key participants of the first Russian project in superconducting qubits «Creating a data processing technology based on superconducting qubits» (2016 – 2019 ) with support from the Russian Foundation for Advanced Research Projects, the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia and Rosatom State Nuclear Energy Corporation. Within the project the infrastructure of the Laboratory was enhanced with state-of-the-art equipment for the creation and research of multi-qubit systems, including a unique device for electron-beam deposition manufactured by Plassys and a complex of microwave measurement equipment.
• Since 2021 the academic team of the Laboratory has been conducting the annual international school for young scientists «Superconducting technologies for quantum data processing» (Superconducting Quantum Hardware, SQH) with support from the Russian Science Foundation. The school is aimed at young scientists and beginning researchers in the domain of physics, engineering, quantum technologies, including postgraduate students, master’s degree and senior-year bachelor’s degree students. The first school SQH-2021 was staged in the online format within the conference ISQT-2021 (Moscow). The second school SQH-2022 was staged in a mixed format within the 8th Euro-Asian Symposium «Trends in Magnetism» EASTMAG 2022 (Kazan). 

Collaborations:

• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany), Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, Russian Quantum Center in Skolkovo, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Yu. A. Osipyan Institute of Solid State Physics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia): joint research and academic events, student exchanges.
• Institute of Photonic Technologies (Germany), University of Crete (Greece), University of Maryland (USA), Loughborough University (United Kingdom), University of Twente (the Netherlands), Skobeltsyn Institute of Nuclear Physics of Lomonosov Moscow State University, Kotelnikov Institute of Radioengineering and Electronics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia): joint research.