Quantum Zeno effect in the strong measurement regime of circuit quantum electrodynamics

We observe the quantum Zeno effect—where the act of measurement slows the rate of quantum state transitions—in a superconducting qubit using linear circuit quantum electrodynamics readout and a near-quantum-limited following amplifier. Under simultaneous strong measurement and qubit drive, the qubit undergoes a series of quantum jumps between states. These jumps are visible in the experimental measurement record and are analyzed using maximum likelihood estimation to determine qubit transition rates. The observed rates agree with both analytical predictions and numerical simulations. The analysis methods are suitable for processing general noisy random telegraph signals.