Superconducting qubit to optical photon transduction
Abstract
Conversion of electrical and optical signals lies at the foundation of the global internet. Such converters are used to extend the reach of long-haul fibre-optic communication systems and within data centres for high-speed optical networking of computers. Likewise, coherent microwave-to-optical conversion of single photons would enable the exchange of quantum states between remotely connected superconducting quantum processors1. Despite the prospects of quantum networking, maintaining the fragile quantum state in such a conversion process with superconducting qubits has not yet been achieved. Here we demonstrate the conversion of a microwave-frequency excitation of a transmon—a type of superconducting qubit—into an optical photon. We achieve this by using an intermediary nanomechanical resonator that converts the electrical excitation of the qubit into a single phonon by means of a piezoelectric interaction and subsequently converts the phonon to an optical photon by means of radiation pressure. We demonstrate optical photon generation from the qubit by recording quantum Rabi oscillations of the qubit through single-photon detection of the emitted light over an optical fibre. With proposed improvements in the device and external measurement set-up, such quantum transducers might be used to realize new hybrid quantum networks and, ultimately, distributed quantum computers.
Additional Information
© 2020 Springer Nature Limited. Received 10 April 2020. Accepted 02 October 2020. Published 23 December 2020. Issue Date 24 December 2020. We thank M. Shaw, J. Banker, H. Ren, E. Kim and X. Zhang for their various contributions to this work. This work was supported by the ARO/LPS Cross Quantum Technology Systems programme (grant W911NF-18-1-0103), the Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, an NSF Physics Frontiers Center (grant PHY-1125565) with support of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, and the Kavli Nanoscience Institute at Caltech. M.M (A.S.) acknowledges support from a KNI (IQIM) Postdoctoral Fellowship. These authors contributed equally: Mohammad Mirhosseini, Alp Sipahigil, Mahmoud Kalaee. Author Contributions. All authors contributed to the concept and planning of the experiment, the device design and fabrication, the measurements and analysis of data, and the writing of the manuscript. Data availability. The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author (O.P.) upon reasonable request. The authors declare no competing interests. Additional information. Peer review information Nature thanks Konrad Lehnert and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work. Peer review reports are available.Attached Files
Published - s41586-020-3038-6.pdf
Submitted - 2004.04838.pdf
Supplemental Material - 41586_2020_3038_Fig10_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41586_2020_3038_Fig11_ESM.jpg
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Supplemental Material - 41586_2020_3038_Fig8_ESM.jpg
Supplemental Material - 41586_2020_3038_Fig9_ESM.jpg
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Additional details
- Alternative title
- Quantum transduction of optical photons from a superconducting qubit
- Eprint ID
- 102572
- Resolver ID
- CaltechAUTHORS:20200416-091933770
- Army Research Office (ARO)
- W911NF-18-1-0103
- Institute for Quantum Information and Matter (IQIM)
- NSF
- PHY-1125565
- Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute
- Created
-
2020-04-16Created from EPrint's datestamp field
- Updated
-
2021-11-16Created from EPrint's last_modified field
- Caltech groups
- Kavli Nanoscience Institute, Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, AWS Center for Quantum Computing