Quantum Circuit Group

QUANTUM CIRCUIT GROUP

Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon

Our research group explores the physics of information in quantum devices, which we design, realize and measure. These objects can be viewed as quantum machines processing information. In contrast with ordinary devices, in which quantum mechanics enters only at the level of individual electrons, the degrees of freedom of these machines at the signal level behave according to the laws of quantum mechanics.
Topics of our current interest include amplification of quantum signals, electron spin resonance at the nanoscale, quantum feedback and trajectory, thermodynamics of quantum information, microwave quantum optics, quantum error correction and quantum measurement.
The Quantum Circuit group was funded in 2016 when Benjamin Huard became professor in Ecole Normale Supérieure of Lyon, therefore leaving the Quantum Electronics Group he cofunded in 2008 with Michel Devoret at Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris. Audrey Bienfait joined the group in 2019 as a CNRS researcher and Sylvain Hermelin in 2023 as a CNRS research engineer.

We are looking for post-docs, to work on experiments if you're interested!

Our group is a member of the Laboratoire International Associé Laboratoire sur les Circuits et Matériaux Quantiques (LIA LCMQ), of the Groupement de Recherche du CNRS Physique Mésoscopique (GDR 2426) and of the Groupement de Recherche du CNRS Information Quantique (GDR 3322).

2023, Hector and Yutian working on Sans Souci, Lyon

2022, Group in front of Confluence museum, Lyon

2022, Antoine and Romain at the lathe in January, Lyon

2021, Hector and Arne on Sans Souci in November , Lyon

2021, Reouven tuning Tete d'Or in November, Lyon

2020, testing the solidity of the frames in October, Lyon

2020, mounting a multiplexing counter in October, Lyon

2020, Audrey and Benjamin in October, Lyon

2020, group in the fridge room in October, Lyon

2020, Jeremy and Arne downstairs in October, Lyon

2020, Antoine and Théau in October, Lyon

2020, PhD degree party for Théau in June, Lyon

2020, transfering Helium 3 in June, ENS de Lyon

2020, installing the fridges in May, ENS de Lyon

2020, delivery of the fridges in April, ENS de Lyon

2020, group with Clara in January, ENS de Lyon

2019, preparing the fridge for cool down, ENS de Lyon

2019, installing the Plassys evaporator, ENS de Lyon

2017, lab inauguration (by Helene Blehaut)

2013, Manu shakes hands with the president

2010, Cryoconcept fridge finally installed!

2010, we bring the Cryoconcept fridge in

MEMBERS

FACULTY

Audrey Bienfait

Audrey completed her Ph.D. in the Quantronics group at CEA Saclay (France) in 2016. There, she worked with Patrice Bertet on coupling bismuth donor spins to high quality factor small-mode-volume superconducting resonators. The experiments applied circuit quantum electrodynamics techniques to electron spin resonance and improved the spin signal detection sensitivity and implemented a spin initialization mechanism via the Purcell effect. She then realized a post-doc in the Cleland group at the University of Chicago (USA), where she coupled remote superconducting qubits using traveling phonons and realized acoustic interferometry experiments. In 2019, she joined the Quantum Circuit group as a CNRS researcher. She received the Bruker thesis prize and a Paris-Saclay university award for her graduate research work. Her current research interests are electronic spins, superconducting circuits, and various microwave transduction schemes. Publication list.

Sylvain Hermelin

During his PhD in the Quantum Coherence team at the Institut Néel, Grenoble (France), Sylvain Hermelin worked on lateral quantum dots in GaAs heterostructures. There he achieved the on-demand transport of a single electron over a few microns and graduated in 2012. The long term goal of this work is the coherent transport of an electron spin qubit. After a postdoc, in the Biophysics group at the University of Geneva (Switzerland) to seek macroscopic consequences of quantum coherence effects in living mice, Sylvain worked at Institut Lumière Matière (Lyon, France) on the optical properties of single nano-objects as well as elemental microscopy (LIBS imaging). Sylvain joined the Quantum Circuit Group in 2023 as CNRS research engineer.

Benjamin Huard

Benjamin Huard graduated from the Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris in 2003 and did his PhD studies in the Quantronics group at CEA Saclay (France) with Hugues Pothier. There, he performed experiments aiming at investigating the behavior of electrons in mesoscopic metallic and superconducting conductors. In 2006, he joined the Goldhaber-Gordon group at Stanford University (USA) as a post-doc fellow, and observed the Klein tunneling of electrons in graphene for the first time. In 2008, as a CNRS researcher, he cofounded the Quantum Electronics group at Ecole Normale Supérieure (Paris, France) with Michel Devoret. Since then, he worked on superconducting circuits in which he worked on quantum measurement and feedback, thermodynamics of quantum information, microwave quantum optics. He is now a professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon where he moved in 2017 and leads the Quantum Circuit Group together with Audrey Bienfait. He is a scientific adviser of the Alice and Bob company since 2021, scientific adviser of CNRS Physics since 2024 and member of the editorial board of PRX since 2024. Publication list

STUDENTS AND POSTDOCS

Ambroise Peugeot

Post-doc since 2023

He did his PhD at CEA Saclay with F. Portier on quantum emission of dc-biased Josephson junctions. After a postdoc at Ecole Polytechnique dedicated to building and using a spectrometer based on the Josephson effect stochastic thermodynamics, he joined the group as a junior researcher on the France 2030 project RobustSuperQ to lead the effort on building new paradigms for cat qubits.

Joel Grebel

Post-doc since 2023

He did his PhD with Andrew Cleland at University of Chicago (USA) on microwave quantum optics, sensing and optomechanics. He joined the Indigo project.

Biswajit Dutta

Postdoc since 2024

After a PhD on proximity effect in UGC DAE CSR- Indore and a first post-doc in exotic Josephson Junctions in IIT Bombay, he joined the group to work on the fabrication of highly coherent superconducting quantum circuits.

Hector Hutin

PhD student since 2021

Hector performs experiments on the backaction of fluorescence measurement and on the use of neural networks for quantum control.

Matteo Boselli

PhD student since 2022

He participates in the Indigo project to develop and build an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy tool based on quantum circuit technology.

Adria Rospars

PhD student since 2023

She participates in the GASP project of ARO/LPS that aims at developing new readout methods for fluxonium qubits.

Tristan Lorriaux

PhD student since 2023

He participates to the France 2030 project RobustSuperQ to build a quantum memory out of spin ensembles.

Simon Dupouy

PhD student since 2023

He is developing new devices and protocols for quantum error correction using bosonic codes in partnership with the startup Alice and Bob.

Marco Paradina

PhD student since 2024

He is developing a dc biased junction approach for quantum error correction using bosonic codes in partnership with the startup Alice and Bob.

Maxime Nurwubusa

PhD student since 2024

He participates in the Indigo project to develop and build an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy tool based on quantum circuit technology.

Evan Ichir

PhD student since 2024

Evan is working on developing colder cryogenic microwave attenuators under the UsineAChats project of BPI and in partnership with the Radiall company.

Sergey Hazanov

Visiting PhD student since 2024

Sergey is working on Kerr cat qubits for his PhD in the Rosenblum group at Weizmann Institute. He is visiting us for 8 months in 2024 to work on the autoparametric cat qubit.

Linda Greggio

Visiting PhD student since 2024

Linda is a PhD student under the supervision of Mazyar Mirrahimi and Alexandru Petrescu in the Quantic team. She is staying with us for a year as she participates in the quantum memory project based on spin ensembles withinthe France 2030 project RobustSuperQ.

QUANTIC TEAM

We closely collaborate with the Quantic team which was funded in 2015, and of which we were officially members before moving to Lyon. Quantic is hosted in Paris by Inria, Mines ParisTech and Ecole Normale Supérieure of Paris. The permanent members are listed here.

Philippe Campagne-Ibarcq (Inria, LPENS)

Zaki Leghtas (Mines ParisTech, LPENS)

Mazyar Mirrahimi (Inria)

Alexandru Petrescu (Mines ParisTech, Inria)

Pierre Rouchon (Mines ParisTech)

Alain Sarlette (Inria)

Antoine Tilloy (Mines ParisTech, Inria)

Alumni

Antoine Marquet

Antoine was a PhD student from 2020 to 2023. He is now working at Alice and Bob.

Yannick Seis

Yannick was a post-doc from 2022 to 2024.

Yutian Wen

Yutian was a post-doc in 2023. He is now a postdoc in the group of Dafei Jin at University of Notre Dame, IN, USA.

Arne Bahr

Arne was a PhD student from 2020 to 2023.

Kushagra Aggarwal

Kushagra was a visitor for a few months in 2023. He is a PhD student in the group of Natalia Ares at Oxford University.

Camille Lombard Latune

Camille was a post-doc from 2021 to 2023. He is now junior professor at Université Bourgogne Franche-Comté, Dijon, France.

Cyril Elouard

Cyril was a post-doc from 2021 to 2022. He is now junior professor at University of Lorraine, Nancy, France.

Réouven Assouly

Réouven was a PhD student from 2019 to 2022. He is now a post-doc fellow at MIT in the group of Will Oliver.

Alexis Jouan

Alexis was a post-doc from 2020 to 2022. He is now assistant professor at ESPCI, Paris.

Rémy Dassonneville

Rémy was a post-doc from 2019 to 2022. He is now assistant professor at IM2NP, Marseille.

Antoine Essig

Antoine was a PhD student from 2018 to 2021. He is now working at Alice and Bob.

Jeremy Stevens

Jeremy was a PhD student from 2017 to 2021. He is now working at Alice and Bob.

Daniel Szombati

Daniel was a post-doc from 2019 to 2021. He now works at Qilimanjaro

Stefan Zeppetzauer

Stefan spent half a year with us before joining the group of Arkady Fedorov at Queensland University (Australia) in 2021.

Sébastien Jezouin

Sébastien was a post-doc from 2015 to 2017 in our group in Paris and later on from 2019 to 2020 in Lyon to develop patents with Pulsalys. He is now working at Alice and Bob. He is co-mentoring the PhD work of Antoine Marquet under our active collaboration with the startup.

Théau Peronnin

Théau was a PhD student from 2016 to 2020. He got the grand prize i-PhD 2019 and is the co-founder and now CEO of Alice and Bob, a quantum computing startup based in Paris, France.

Nathanaël Cottet

Nathanaël was a PhD student from 2015 to 2018, then postdoc for the first half of 2019. He is now working at Alice and Bob.

Quentin Ficheux

Quentin was a PhD student from 2015 to 2018. Now permanent CNRS researcher in the Quanteca team at Institut Neel, Grenoble, France.

Danijela Marković

Danijela was a PhD student from 2014 to 2017. Now permanent CNRS researcher teaming up with Julie Grollier at CNRS Thales in Palaiseau, France.

Zaki Leghtas

Zaki Leghtas worked in the Quantum Electronics group from 2015 to 2017 as a researcher of Mines ParisTech. He is now part of the Quantic team at ENS Paris.

Raphaël Lescanne

Raphaël realized the first part of his PhD work between 2016 and 2017 in the group with his advisor Zaki Leghtas at ENS Paris. He is the co-founder and now CTO of the startup Alice and Bob.

Landry Bretheau

Landry was a post-doc for 2 years in 2013-2015. Now professor at Ecole Polytechnique.

Vladimir Manucharyan

Vlad was a visitor for a few months in 2013. Now professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne, Switzerland.

Jean-Damien Pillet

Jean-Damien was a post-doc for 1 year in 2012. Now associate professor at Ecole Polytechnique.

François Mallet

Francois Mallet worked in the Quantum Electronics group from 2011 to 2016 as an associate professor at Université Pierre et Marie Curie.

Philippe Campagne

Philippe was a PhD student from 2011 to 2015. Now a permanent researcher in the Quantic team at Inria Paris.

Emmanuel Flurin

Emmanuel was a PhD student from 2011 to 2014. Now permanent researcher in the Quantronics group at CEA Saclay.

Nicolas Roch

Nicolas was a post-doc for 3 years from 2010 to 2012. Now CNRS researcher at Institut Néel in Grenoble, France.

François Nguyen

François was a post-doc for 1 year in 2008-2009.

Michel Devoret

Michel H. Devoret, a professor at UC Santa Barbara since 2024 and Chief Scientist at Google Quantum since 2024, was appointed to the Chair of Mesoscopic Physics at the College de France in Paris, where he lectured yearly from 2007 to 2012. He co-funded the Quantum electronics group in 2008 with Benjamin Huard and worked in the group for the whole duration of his chair. Website

Former interns

Wayan Sefouni (2024)

Chengzhi Ye (2024)

Anne-Laure Lacombe (2024)

Tristan Villain (2023)

Max Marrot (2023)

Oscar Novat (2023)

Lucas Moreau-Lalaux (2023)

Simon Dupouy (2023)

Loris Cros (2023)

Romane Houvenaghel (2022)

Tristan Lorriaux (2022)

Adria Rospars (2022)

Sepideh Abdollahi (2022)

Antoine Brillant (2022)

Romain Cazali (2021)

Denis Benatre (2022)

Solenn Cances (2021)

Victor Champain (2021)

Bastien Voirin (2021,2023)

Sarah Wattelier (2020)

Corentin Picot (2020)

Clément Panais (2020)

Hector Hutin (2020,2021)

Guillaume Cauquil (2019,2021)

Hubert Souquet-Basiege (2018)

Clément Gouriou (2018)

Megan Yamoah (2018)

Marco Fellous Asiani (2017)

Charles Babin (2017)

Théau Peronnin (2015,2016)

Pierre Heidmann (2014)

Cyprien Poirier (2014)

Yael Gagnepain (2013)

Jules Denier (2012)

Lauriane Contamin (2012)

Nathanael Cottet (2012,2015)

Lola El Sahmarany (2010)

Florent Baboux (2010)

Elisabeth Bonnefoy (2010)

PUBLICATIONS

PREPRINTS

Preparing Schrödinger cat states in a microwave cavity using a neural network H. Hutin, P. Bilous, C. Ye, S. Abdollahi, L. Cros, T. Dvir, T. Shah, Y. Cohen, A. Bienfait, F. Marquardt, B. Huard arXiv:2409.05557

ARTICLES

Monitoring the energy of a cavity by observing the emission of a repeatedly excited qubit H. Hutin, A. Essig, R. Assouly, P. Rouchon, A. Bienfait, B. Huard (2024) Phys. Rev. Lett. 133, 153602 (open access PDF).

Harnessing two-photon dissipation for enhanced quantum measurement and control A. Marquet, S. Dupouy, U. Reglade, A. Essig, J. Cohen, E. Albertinale, A. Bienfait, T. Peronnin, S. Jezouin, R. Lescanne, and B. Huard (2024) Phys. Rev. Applied 22, 034053 ( open access PDF)

Autoparametric resonance extending the bit-flip time of a cat qubit up to 0.3 s A. Marquet, A. Essig, J. Cohen, N. Cottet, A. Murani, E. Albertinale, S. Dupouy, A. Bienfait, T. Peronnin, S. Jezouin, R. Lescanne, B. Huard (2024) Phys. Rev. X 14, 021019 (open access PDF)

Improving magnetic-field resilience of NbTiN planar resonators using a hard-mask fabrication technique A. Bahr, M. Boselli, B. Huard, A. Bienfait (2024) Applied Physics Letters 124, 114004 ( open access PDF)

Probing many-body correlations using quantum-cascade correlation spectroscopy L. Scarpelli, C. Elouard, M. Johnsson, M. Morassi, A. Lemaitre, I. Carusotto, J. Bloch, S. Ravets, M. Richard, T. Volz (2024) Nature Physics (open access PDF)

Complete positivity violation of the reduced dynamics in higher-order quantum adiabatic elimination M. Tokieda, C. Elouard, A. Sarlette, P. Rouchon (2023) IFAC-PapersOnLine 56, 1333 (open access PDF)

Cloaking a qubit in a cavity C. Lledó, R. Dassonneville, A. Moulinas, J. Cohen, R. Shillito, A. Bienfait, B. Huard, A. Blais (2023) Nature Communications 14, 6313 (open access PDF)

Cyclic quantum engines enhanced by strong bath coupling C. Lombard Latune, G. Pleasance, F. Petruccione (2023) Phys. Rev. Applied 20, 024038 ( open access PDF)

Demonstration of Quantum Advantage in Microwave Quantum Radar R. Assouly, R. Dassonneville, T. Peronnin, A. Bienfait and B. Huard (2023) Nature Physics (open access PDF)

Extending the laws of thermodynamics for arbitrary autonomous quantum systems C. Elouard, C. Lombard Latune (2023) PRX Quantum 4, 020309 ( open access PDF)

A topologically protected quantum dynamo effect in a driven spin-boson model E. Bernhardt, C. Elouard, K. Le Hur (2023) Physical Review A 107, 022219 ( open access PDF)

Anomalous energy exchanges and Wigner function negativities in a single qubit gate M. Maffei, C. Elouard, B. O. Goes, B. Huard, A. N. Jordan, A. Auffèves (2023) Physical Review A 107 (2), 023710 (open access PDF)

Propagating Quantum Microwaves: Towards Applications in Communication and Sensing M. Casariego, E. Zambrini Cruzeiro, S. Gherardini, T. Gonzalez-Raya, R. André, G. Frazão, G. Catto, M. Möttönen, D. Datta, K. Viisanen, J. Govenius, M. Prunnila, K. Tuominen, M. Reichert, M. Renger, K. G. Fedorov, F. Deppe, H. van der Vliet, A. J. Matthews, Y. Fernández, R. Assouly, R. Dassonneville, B. Huard, M. Sanz, Y. Omar (2023) Quantum Science and Technology 8 (2), 023001 ( open access PDF)

Energetics of a Single Qubit Gate J. Stevens, D. Szombati, M. Maffei, C. Elouard, R. Assouly, N. Cottet, R. Dassonneville, Q. Ficheux, S. Zeppetzauer, A. Bienfait, A. N. Jordan, A. Auffèves, B. Huard (2022) Phys. Rev. Lett. 129, 110601 (open access PDF).

Steady state in strong system-bath coupling regime: reaction coordinate versus perturbative expansion C. Lombard Latune (2022) Phys. Rev. E 105, 024126 ( open access PDF)

Steady state in ultrastrong coupling regime: perturbative expansion and first orders C. Lombard Latune (2022) Quanta 11, 53 ( open access PDF)

Deep Reinforcement Learning for Quantum State Preparation with Weak Nonlinear Measurements R. Porotti, A. Essig, B. Huard, F. Marquardt (2022), Quantum 6, 747 ( arXiv:2107.08816)

Topological power pumping in quantum circuits J. Luneau, C. Dutreix, Q. Ficheux, P. Delplace, B. Douçot, B. Huard, D. Carpentier (2022), Phys. Rev. Research 4, 013169 (arXiv:2109.12897).

Multiplexed photon number measurement A. Essig, Q. Ficheux, T. Peronnin, N. Cottet, R. Lescanne, A. Sarlette, P. Rouchon, Z. Leghtas, B. Huard (2021), Phys. Rev. X 11, 031045 (open access PDF).

Dissipative stabilization of squeezing beyond 3 dB in a microwave mode R. Dassonneville, R. Assouly, T. Peronnin, A. A. Clerk, A. Bienfait, B. Huard (2021), PRX Quantum 2, 020323 (open access PDF). See synopsis in Physics 14, s59.

Number-resolved photocounter for propagating microwave mode R. Dassonneville, R. Assouly, T. Peronnin, P. Rouchon, B. Huard (2020), Phys. Rev. Applied 14, 044022 ( open access PDF)

An Interaction-Free Quantum Measurement-Driven Engine C. Elouard, M. Waegell, B. Huard and A.N. Jordan (2020), Found. Phys. (open access PDF)

Quantum adiabatic elimination at arbitrary order for photon number measurement A. Sarlette, P. Rouchon, A. Essig, Q. Ficheux, B. Huard, 2020 IFAC World Congress, IFAC, Jul 2020, Berlin, Germany (open access PDF)

Sequential dispersive measurement of a superconducting qubit T. Peronnin, D. Marković, Q. Ficheux and B. Huard (2020), Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 180502 (open access PDF)

The energetic cost of work extraction J. Monsel, M. Fellous-Asiani, B. Huard and A. Auffèves (2020), Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 130601 (open access PDF)

Exponential suppression of bit-flips in a qubit encoded in an oscillator R. Lescanne, M. Villiers, T. Peronnin, A. Sarlette, M. Delbecq, B. Huard, T. Kontos, M. Mirrahimi, Z. Leghtas (2020), Nature Physics (open access PDF)

Injection locking and parametric locking in a superconducting circuit D. Marković, J.-D. Pillet, E. Flurin, N. Roch and B. Huard (2019), Phys. Rev. Applied 12, 024034 (open access PDF)

Escape of a Driven Quantum Josephson Circuit into Unconfined States R. Lescanne, L. Verney, Q. Ficheux, M. H. Devoret, B. Huard, M. Mirrahimi and Z. Leghtas (2019), Phys. Rev. Applied 11, 014030 (open access PDF)

Maxwell's demon in superconducting circuits N. Cottet and B. Huard (2019). In: Binder F., Correa L., Gogolin C., Anders J., Adesso G. (eds) Thermodynamics in the Quantum Regime. Fundamental Theories of Physics, vol 195. Springer, Cham (open access PDF)

Demonstration of an effective ultrastrong coupling between two oscillators D. Marković, S. Jezouin, Q. Ficheux, S. Fedortchenko, S. Felicetti, T. Coudreau, P. Milman, Z. Leghtas and B. Huard (2018), Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 040505 (open access PDF)

Dynamics of a qubit while simultaneously monitoring its relaxation and dephasing Q. Ficheux, S. Jezouin, Z. Leghtas and B. Huard (2018), Nat. Comm. 9, 1926 (supplementary information). Click on the video to access all experimental videos.

Observing a quantum Maxwell demon at work N. Cottet, S. Jezouin, L. Bretheau, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, Q. Ficheux, J. Anders, A. Auffèves, R. Azouit, P. Rouchon and B. Huard (2017), PNAS 114, 7561 (open access PDF)

Extracting work from quantum measurement in Maxwell demon engines C. Elouard, D. Herrera-Marti, B. Huard, A. Auffèves (2017), Phys. Rev. Lett. 118, 260603 (open access PDF)

Quantum simulation of ultrastrongly coupled bosonic modes using superconducting circuits S. Fedortchenko, S. Felicetti, D. Marković, S. Jezouin, A. Keller, T. Coudreau, B. Huard, and P. Milman (2017), Phys. Rev. A 95, 042313 (open access PDF)

Using Spontaneous Emission of a Qubit as a Resource for Feedback Control P. Campagne-Ibarcq, S. Jezouin, N. Cottet, P. Six, L. Bretheau, F. Mallet, A. Sarlette, P. Rouchon, and B. Huard (2016), Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 060502 (open access PDF, supplementary information)

Observing quantum state diffusion by heterodyne detection of fluorescence P. Campagne-Ibarcq, P. Six, L. Bretheau, A. Sarlette, M. Mirrahimi, P. Rouchon, and B. Huard (2016), Phys. Rev. X 6, 011002 (PDF en libre accès, information supplémentaire)

Anatomy of Fluorescence: Quantum trajectory statistics from continuously measuring spontaneous emission A.N. Jordan, A. Chantasri, P. Rouchon and B. Huard (2016), Quantum Stud.: Math. Found. 3: 237. (PDF en libre accès)

Quantum state tomography with measurement imperfections and decoherence P. Six, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, I. Dotsenko, A. Sarlette, B. Huard, and P. Rouchon (2016), Phys. Rev. A 93, 012109 (PDF en libre accès)

Parameter estimation from measurements along quantum trajectories P. Six, P. Campagne-Ibarcq, L. Bretheau, B. Huard, and P. Rouchon (2015), 54th IEEE Conference on Decision and Control