We have realized a hybrid solid-state quantum device in which a single-electron semiconductor double quantum dot is dipole coupled to a superconducting microwave frequency transmission line resonator. The dipolar interaction between the two entities manifests itself via dispersive and dissipative effects observed as frequency shifts and linewidth broadenings of the photonic mode respectively. A Jaynes-Cummings Hamiltonian master equation calculation is used to model the combined system response and allows for determining both the coherence properties of the double quantum dot and its interdot tunnel coupling with high accuracy. The value and uncertainty of the tunnel coupling extracted from the microwave read-out technique are compared to a standard quantum point contact charge detection analysis. The two techniques are found to be consistent with a superior precision for the microwave experiment when tunneling rates approach the resonator eigenfrequency. Decoherence properties of the double dot are further investigated as a function of the number of electrons inside the dots. They are found to be similar in the single-electron and many-electron regimes suggesting that the density of the confinement energy spectrum plays a minor role in the decoherence rate of the system under investigation.

We explore the microwave radiation emitted from a biased double quantum dot due to the inelastic tunneling of single charges. Radiation is detected over a broad range of detuning configurations between the dot energy levels, with pronounced maxima occurring in resonance with a capacitively coupled transmission line resonator. The power emitted for forward and reverse resonant detuning is found to be in good agreement with a rate equation model, which considers the hybridization of the individual dot charge states.

Using a quantum detector, a superconductor-insulator-superconductor junction, we probe separately the emission and absorption noise in the quantum regime of a superconducting resonant circuit at equilibrium. At low temperature the resonant circuit exhibits only absorption noise related to zero point fluctuations, whereas at higher temperature emission noise is also present. By coupling a Josephson junction, biased above the superconducting gap, to the same resonant circuit, we directly measure the noise power of quasiparticles tunneling through the junction at two resonance frequencies. It exhibits a strong frequency dependence, consistent with theoretical predictions.