Expérimental
With the advent of circuit quantum electro-dynamics, the most advanced platform to realize fully controllable and scalable quantum processors using superconducting quantum bits, the vector of information has become microwave photons in the [4-8]~GHz band. Developing an efficient and fast microwave photo-electron converter thus holds immense promise in advancing quantum computing, communication and sensing. In this context we have very recently realized a microwave photon to electron converter in which a superconducting tunnel junction acts as a voltage tuneable quantum absorber through the photon-assisted tunneling of quasiparticles. The achieved quantum efficiency, estimated from the measured photo-assisted current, approaches unity. This finding paves the way for the proposed project which aims at detecting single microwave photons using charge detection techniques using superinductances currently under development in the lab. The student will join the project lead by 2 permanent researchers, 1 graduating phd student and 1 post-doc. The goal will be to develop charge detection using superconducting circuits made out of granular aluminum, a disordered superconductor, realized in a nanofabrication clean room by electron beam lithography and metal evaporation. Measurements will then be carried in a brand new dilution refrigerator with base temperature of 20mK and high precision electronics.