Restoring Quantum Coherence Pavia, Italy Decoherence remains the foremost limiting factor on practical implementation of quantum information technologies. In quant-ph 0504195, Buscemi et al. show that for qubit and qutrit systems it is always possible to recover quantum coherence by performing controlled measurements upon the environment, and that the minimal information required to invert qubit decoherence is equivalent to the von Neumann entropy exchange of the system.

Measuring Decoherence in a three-level rf SQUID Qubit U Kansas In cond-mat 0507008, Han et al. perform direct and quantitative measurements of dissipation-induced relaxation in a three-level rf SQUID qubit. "Analysis of the system indicates that the dominant sources of qubit dissipation are the flux bias and magnetometer readout circuits. Since this kind of dissipation-induced qubit decoherence can be greatly suppressed with more sophisticated designs we believe it does not impose a fundamental limit to this type of qubit [...] We are developing advanced designs for qubit bias and readout circuits that are predicted to decrease their contributions to the qubit damping by several orders of magnitude."

Josephson Bifurcation Amplifier for Quantum Measurements Yale In cond-mat 0507248, Devoret et al. construct a new type of amplifier for superconducting qubit readout based on the transition of an rf driven Josephson junction between two distinct oscillation states near a dynamic bifurcation point: "The main advantages of this new amplifier are speed, high-sensitivity, low back-action, and the absence of on-chip dissipation. Using pulsed microwave techniques, we demonstrate bifurcation amplification in nanofabricated Al junctions and verify that the performance predicted by theory is attained."

Flux-Qubit Readout with Frequency Dependent Damping Berkeley, München "Recent experiments on superconducting flux qubits, consisting of a superconducting loop interrupted by Josephson junctions, have demonstrated quantum coherence between two different quantum states. The state of the qubit is measured with a superconducting quantum interference device. Such measurements require the SQUID to have high resolution while exerting minimal backaction on the qubit." In Phys. Rev. B 72, 024513 , Plourde, Wilhelm et al. employ a path-integral approach to analyze the Caldeira-Leggett model, calculating backaction of a shunted symmetric SQUID on a flux qubit. "To test the model, we fabricated a dc SQUID in which each junction is shunted with a thin-film interdigitated capacitor in series with a resistor, and measured the switching distribution as a function of temperature and applied magnetic flux. After accounting for the damping due to the SQUID leads, we found good agreement between the measured escape rates and the predictions of our model. "