David Schuster

This thesis describes the development of circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED), architecture for studying quantum information and quantum optics. In circuit QED a superconducting qubit acting as an artificial atom is electrostatically coupled to a 1D transmission line resonator. The large effective dipole moment of the qubit and high energy density of the resonator allowed this system to reach the strong coupling limit of cavity QED for the first time in a solid-state system. Spectroscopic investigations explore effects of different regimes of cavity QED observing physics such as the vacuum Rabi mode splitting, and the AC Stark effect. These cavity QED effects are used to control and measure the qubit state, while protecting it from radiative decay. The qubit can also be used to measure and control the cavity state, as shown by experiments detecting and generating single photons. This thesis will describe the theoretical framework, implementation, and measurements of the circuit QED system.