Detecting highly entangled states with a joint qubit readout

A single-channel joint readout is used to analyze highly entangled two-qubit states in a circuit quantum electrodynamics architecture. The measurement model for the readout is fully characterized, demonstrating a large sensitivity to two-qubit correlations. We quantify the high degree of entanglement by measuring a violation of the Clauser-Horne-Shimony-Holt inequality with a value of 2.61±0.04, without optimizing the preparation of the two-qubit state. In its present form, this joint readout can resolve improvements to the fidelity of two-qubit operations and be extended to three or four qubits.