Investigating the high power response of quantum acoustic systems

Circuit quantum acoustodynamics (cQAD) enables the integration of superconducting qubits with mechanical degrees of freedom, providing a platform to explore coherent quantum control of mechanical modes or to investigate strong non-linear hybridization of the qubit and mechanics. Of particular interest is the non-linear dynamics of the mechanical modes, which can be created with increasing drive power and/or temperature. Here, we present power and temperature-dependent spectroscopic measurements of a transmon qubit coupled to a surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator (SAW). Our measurements reveal that the coupling strength between the two systems persists to ~100 mK and is independent of drive power. Additionally, we observe a SAW-mediated extinguishing of multi-photon qubit transitions in the hybrid device