Controllable cross-Kerr interaction between microwave photons in circuit quantum electrodynamics

We propose a scheme to enable a controllable cross-Kerr interaction between microwave photons in a circuit quantum electrodynamics (QED) system. In this scheme we use two transmission-line resonators (TLRs) and one superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID) type charge qubit, which acts as an artificial atom. It is shown that in the dispersive regime of the circuit-QED system, a controllable cross-Kerr interaction can be obtained by properly preparing the initial state of the qubit, and a large cross-phase shift between two microwave fields in the two TLRs can then be reached. Based on this cross-Kerr interaction, we show how to create a macroscopic entangled state between the two TLRs.