Nonlinear manipulation of tunable microwave amplification and attenuation in superconducting circuits

Abstract

We demonstrate the controllable nonlinear microwave modulation in a cyclically driven three-level superconducting Josephson system. By designing two subtle matched conditions in the △-type atom-field configuration, a new physical mechanism – combined action of nonlinear wave mixing and wave interference – is developed and leads to not only amplification but also attenuation for two microwave signals. Our results show that such a nonlinear manipulation of the signal transition from enhancement to damping can be tuned in a large scope by controlling the relative phase and the driving-field frequency and thus the solid-state Josephson system can act as a phase- and frequency-controlled amplitude modulator. Our study opens up a fascinating perspective for its widespread applications in nonlinear optics and quantum information science.