Microwave-to-optical frequency conversion using a cesium atom coupled to a superconducting resonator

Quantum information technology based on solid state qubits has created much interest in converting quantum states from the microwave to the optical domain. Optical photons, unlike microwave photons, can be transmitted by fiber, making them suitable for long distance quantum communication. Moreover, the optical domain offers access to a large set of very well‐developed quantum optical tools, such as highly efficient single‐photon detectors and long‐lived quantum memories. For a high fidelity microwave to optical transducer, efficient conversion at single photon level and low added noise is needed. Currently, the most promising approaches to build such systems are based on second‐order nonlinear phenomena such as optomechanical and electro‐optic interactions. Alternative approaches, although not yet as efficient, include magneto‐optical coupling and schemes based on isolated quantum systems like atoms, ions, or quantum dots. Herein, the necessary theoretical foundations for the most important microwave‐to‐optical conversion experiments are provided, their implementations are described, and the current limitations and future prospects are discussed.

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Section: Experimental Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, because atomic ensembles naturally offer high cooperativity in the phase‐matched direction, an optical cavity is not vital for high efficiencies . This is in contrast to proposals using single atoms, which would require resonant enhancement.…”

Section: Experimental Approachesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Coherent Conversion Between Microwave and Optical Photons—An Overview of Physical Implementations

et al. 2019

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“…In conclusion, we have designed and machined a tunable mm-wave cavity with a measured internal Q factor of 3 × 10 7 . The seamless geometry tightly confines photons at the intersection of evanescent waveguides in the 0.14λ 3 mode volume, while allowing multiple lines-of-sight for optical access, injection of cold atoms and integration with an optical cavity for quantum interconversion experiments 37,40 .…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

A tunable high-Q millimeter wave cavity for hybrid circuit and cavity QED experiments

Suleymanzade

Anferov

Stone

et al. 2020

Applied Physics Letters

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The millimeter wave (mm-wave) frequency band provides exciting prospects for quantum science and devices, since many high-fidelity quantum emitters, including Rydberg atoms, molecules and silicon vacancies, exhibit resonances near 100 GHz. High-Q resonators at these frequencies would give access to strong interactions between emitters and single photons, leading to rich and unexplored quantum phenomena at temperatures above 1K. We report a 3D mmwave cavity with a measured single-photon internal quality factor of 3×10 7 and mode volume of 0.14×λ 3 at 98.2 GHz, sufficient to reach strong coupling in a Rydberg cavity QED system. An in-situ piezo tunability of 18 MHz facilitates coupling to specific atomic transitions. Our unique, seamless and optically accessible resonator design is enabled by the realization that intersections of 3D waveguides support tightly confined bound states below the waveguide cutoff frequency. Harnessing the features of our cavity design, we realize a hybrid mm-wave and optical cavity, designed for interconversion and entanglement of mm-wave and optical photons using Rydberg atoms. chemical sensing and effective medical diagnostics 25,26 . Recently, the search for higher bandwidth and lower latency communication brought mm-wave wave frequencies into the focus of the telecommunication industry 27,28 . Once prohibitively limited and expensive, mm-wave technology is be-arXiv:1911.00553v1 [quant-ph] 1 Nov 2019 109 GHz 98 GHz 92 GHz 30 GHz a. b. c. d. e.

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“…Another route to achieving quantum control beyond the resolved sideband limit is to interface the optomechanical device with an auxiliary quantum system. Superconducting circuits [103], cold atoms (to be discussed in § 2.3.3), ions, nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamonds [104], and various other ancillae have been proposed in the literature [105,106]. In this thesis we will concentrate on cold atoms.…”

Section: Unresolved Sideband Limitmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is hoped that this will provide a means of connecting fibre networks to processing nodes in a 'quantum internet' [103,[179][180][181][182][183].…”

Section: Other Optomechanical Couplings and Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quantum optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime

Bennett¹

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A cavity optomechanical system is formed when the resonance frequency of an optical cavity is dependent upon the position of a mechanical oscillator. This is achieved in a plethora of physical systems, spanning the range from cold atom clouds trapped in miniaturised optical cavities through to the kilogram-scale test masses of the four kilometre long advanced Laser Interferometer Gravitationalwave Observatory. The dynamical coupling between light and vibration thus engendered modifies both the optical and mechanical behaviours, and is responsible for a number of intriguing phenomena.Indeed, with optomechanical tools it becomes possible to observe the fact that macroscopic mechanical oscillators are governed by the laws of quantum mechanics, rather than familiar classical equations of motion. The preparation of mechanical oscillators in truly quantum states, such as squeezed states and two-mode entangled states, has already been experimentally demonstrated. It is predicted that further advances along these lines will permit sensitive tests of fundamental physics, in addition to delivering significant improvements to sensor and information processing technologies.The majority of optomechanical protocols developed to date operate in the so-called resolved sideband limit, where the cavity bandwidth is small compared to the mechanical resonance frequency.This ensures that the optical cavity may be employed as a frequency-selective element for performing coherent control, but it also limits the quantity of circulating optical power and prevents one from reaching the standard quantum limit for position and force detection.In this thesis we report research that has expanded the optomechanical toolbox in the unresolved sideband regime, where the linewidth of the cavity is larger than the mechanical resonance frequency. This is a natural operating regime for large-mass and/or low-frequency mechanical oscillators; microcavity devices with small mode volumes and large optomechanical coupling rates; high-bandwidth, high-quantum-efficiency position and force detection; optical pulse manipulation; and hybrid devices couple to low-frequency quantum ancillae, such as the motional degrees of freedom of cold atoms.We begin this thesis by providing introductory material which covers advances in optomechanics and related fields; useful theoretical tools and their physical meanings; and some insights into technical details. These materials are included in the hope that they might be useful to other researchers in the field.Our first contribution to optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime is a theoretical study of a remotely-coupled hybrid atom-optomechanical system. This uses a cloud of cold atoms as a 'quantum handle' with which to control the state of a mechanical oscillator. The two systems are coupled via light, which significantly relaxes experimental requirements on integration of vacuum and cryogenic apparatus. We derive the conditions under which laser cooling of the atomic ensemble permits one to sympathetica...

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Microwave-to-optical frequency conversion using a cesium atom coupled to a superconducting resonator

Cited by 74 publications

References 52 publications

Coherent Conversion Between Microwave and Optical Photons—An Overview of Physical Implementations

Coherent Conversion Between Microwave and Optical Photons—An Overview of Physical Implementations

A tunable high-Q millimeter wave cavity for hybrid circuit and cavity QED experiments

Quantum optomechanics in the unresolved sideband regime

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