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arXiv:1806.07256

Microwave-to-optical frequency conversion based on the Lamb shift

Sergey A. Rashkovskiy

Published Jun 17, 2018• 0 citations
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Abstract

We consider the microwave-to-optical frequency conversion based on the Lamb shift, fine structure and forbidden transitions. The theory of such a conversion is developed and the efficiency of the microwave-to-optical frequency conversion is calculated. We show that the ratio of the peak power of the induced optical emission to the power of the incident microwave, for a hydrogen atom, can reach 1000000.

DOI
10.48550/arxiv.1806.07256

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We consider the microwave-to-optical frequency conversion based on the Lamb shift, fine structure and forbidden transitions. The theory of such a conversion is developed and the efficiency of the microwave-to-optical frequency conversion is calculated. We show that the ratio of the peak power of the induced optical emission to the power of the incident microwave, for a hydrogen atom, can reach 1000000.
A candidate for converting quantum information from microwave to optical frequencies is the use of a single atom that interacts with a superconducting microwave resonator on one hand and an optical cavity on the other. The large electric dipole moments and microwave transition frequencies possessed by Rydberg states allow them to couple strongly to superconducting devices. Lasers can then be used to connect a Rydberg transition to an optical transition to realize the conversion. Since the fundamental source of noise in this process is spontaneous emission from the atomic levels, the resulting control problem involves choosing the pulse shapes of the driving lasers so as to maximize the transfer rate while minimizing this loss. Here we consider the concrete example of a cesium atom, along with two specific choices for the levels to be used in the conversion cycle. Under the assumption that spontaneous emission is the only significant source of errors, we use numerical optimization to determine the likely rates for reliable quantum communication that could be achieved with this device. These rates are on the order of a few megaqubits per second.
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Microwave-to-optical frequency conversion is a key enabling technology for quantum sensing of microwave fields and for hybrid quantum networks connecting superconducting processors with optical channels. Here, we demonstrate coherent microwave-to-optical conversion using four-wave mixing in a room-temperature cesium vapor. The system achieves an internal photon conversion efficiency close to 0.003 , a dynamic range exceeding 17 dB, and a wide bandwidth of 25 MHz despite using reduced powers of the auxiliary fields. Experimental results are qualitatively reproduced by a Maxwell–Bloch model incorporating Doppler averaging. Numerical analysis indicates that the conversion efficiency can potentially reach several percent by increasing the powers of the auxiliary lasers. These findings establish an experimental and theoretical framework for developing efficient, coherent, and broadband frequency conversion with cesium vapors.
We perform a numerical and analytical investigation of microwave-to-optical conversion based on four-wave mixing in Rydberg atoms. Our work demonstrates that both all-resonant and off-resonant frequency-mixing configurations achieve near-unit photon conversion efficiencies. We review the conditions that can lead to the presence of two possible dark states. We find that for both configurations, one of the dark states can be detrimental at high microwave powers, and show that an additional limitation to all-resonant frequency mixing is microwave-induced fluorescence. Finally, we confirm that the off-resonant configuration is more appropriate as it allows for efficient photon conversion on a wider range of input microwave intensities with reduced total power of the auxiliary fields.
Abstract Frequency conversion between microwave and optical photons is a key enabling technology to create links between superconducting quantum processors and to realize distributed quantum networks. We propose a microwave-optical transduction platform based on long-coherence time superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities coupled to electro-optic optical cavities to mitigate the loss mechanisms that limit the attainment of high conversion efficiency. We optimize the microwave-optical field overlap and optical coupling losses in the design while achieving long microwave and optical photon lifetime at milli-Kelvin temperatures. This represents a significant enhancement of the transduction efficiency up to 50% under incoming pump power of 140 μW, which allows the conversion of few-photon quantum signals. Furthermore, this scheme exhibits high resolution for optically reading out the dispersive shift induced by a superconducting transmon qubit coupled to the SRF cavity. We also show that low microwave losses enhance the fidelity of heralded entanglement generation between two remote quantum systems. Finally, high precision in quantum sensing can be reached below the standard quantum limit.
In this paper, we propose a scheme for frequency conversion between optical photons and microwave photons in non-Markovian environments using both magnetic and mechanical excitations as intermediate media. When the frequencies of optical photons, magnons, phonons, and microwave photons resonance, the conversion efficiency can be made close to reach 98.76%\%% by adjusting the defined complex cooperativities, while in the case of Markovian, the conversion efficiency is 90.44%\%%. By controlling the environmental spectral widths, the efficiency of frequency conversion exhibits a transition from Markovian regimes to non-Markovian regimes. This transformation simultaneously improves frequency conversion efficiency and conversion bandwidth, which is due to the excitation backflow generated by the interaction between the system and the non-Markovian environments. In the case, when the optical pump power in the non-Markovian regimes are of a large order of magnitude, the conversion bandwidth can be increased, but at the cost of reduced conversion efficiency. Our scheme improves the frequency conversion efficiency and bandwidth between optical photons and microwave photons, breaking the limitations of frequency conversion in Markovian environments and providing a new approach for long-distance quantum communication research of other non-Markovian quantum systems in quantum optics.