Single-mode Josephson-junction-based parametric amplifiers are often modeled as perfect amplifiers and squeezers. We show that in practice, the gain, quantum efficiency, and output field squeezing of these devices are limited by usually neglected higher-order corrections to the idealized model. To arrive at this result, we derive the leading corrections to the lumped-element Josephson parametric amplifier of three common pumping schemes: monochromatic current pump, bichromatic current pump, and monochromatic flux pump. We show that the leading correction for the last two schemes is a single Kerr-type quartic term, while the first scheme contains additional cubic terms. In all cases, we find that the corrections are detrimental to squeezing. In addition, we show that the Kerr correction leads to a strongly phase-dependent reduction of the quantum efficiency of a phase-sensitive measurement. Finally, we quantify the departure from the ideal Gaussian character of the filtered output field from numerical calculation of third- and fourth-order cumulants. Our results show that while a Gaussian output field is expected for an ideal Josephson parametric amplifier, higher-order corrections lead to non-Gaussian effects which increase with both gain and nonlinearity strength. This theoretical study is complemented by experimental characterization of the output field of a flux-driven Josephson parametric amplifier. In addition to a measurement of the squeezing level of the filtered output field, the Husimi $Q$ function of the output field is imaged by the use of a deconvolution technique and compared to numerical results. This work establishes nonlinear corrections to the standard degenerate parametric amplifier model as an important contribution to the Josephson parametric amplifier’s squeezing and noise performance.

• Received 7 August 2017

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.8.054030