Probing Site-Resolved Current in Strongly Interacting Superconducting Circuit Lattices

• Published in: Physical review letters Vol. 133; no. 6; p. 060601
• Main Authors: Du, Botao, Suresh, Ramya, López, Santiago, Cadiente, Jeremy, Ma, Ruichao
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States 09.08.2024
• ISSN: 1079-7114
• DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.060601

Transport measurements are fundamental for understanding condensed matter phenomena, from superconductivity to the fractional quantum Hall effect. Analogously, they can be powerful tools for probing synthetic quantum matter in quantum simulators. Here we demonstrate the measurement of in situ particle current in a superconducting circuit lattice and apply it to study transport in both coherent and bath-coupled lattices. Our method utilizes controlled tunneling in a double-well potential to map current to on-site density, revealing site-resolved current and current statistics. We prepare a strongly interacting Bose-Hubbard lattice at different lattice fillings, and observe the change in current statistics as the many-body states transition from superfluid to Mott insulator. Furthermore, we explore nonequilibrium current dynamics by coupling the lattice to engineered driven-dissipative baths that serve as tunable particle source and drain. We observe steady-state current in discrete conduction channels and interaction-assisted transport. These results establish a versatile platform to investigate microscopic quantum transport in superconducting circuits.