Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Log inSign up
Challenges
Datasets
Workspaces
Papers
Discussions
Leaderboard
Blog
Job Board
Q3AS

© 2026 Aqora Quantum S.A.S.

TermsPrivacyLegal Notice

arXiv:1811.10065 · Physical Review A

Mechanically generating entangled photons from the vacuum: A microwave circuit-acoustic resonator analog of the oscillatory Unruh effect

Hui Wang, M. P. Blencowe, Christopher M. Wilson, A. J. Rimberg

Published May 22, 2019• 22 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We consider a model for an oscillatory, relativistic accelerating photodetector inside a cavity and show that the entangled photon pair production from the vacuum (Unruh effect) can be accurately described in the steady state by a nondegenerate parametric amplifier (NDPA), with the detector's accelerating center of mass serving as the parametric drive (pump). We propose an oscillatory Unruh effect analog NDPA microwave superconducting circuit scheme, where the breathing mode of the coupling capacitance between the cavity and detector provides the mechanical pump. For realizable circuit parameters, the resulting photon production from the vacuum should be detectable.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.99.053833

Related papers

Efficient on-chip source of microwave photon pairs in superconducting circuit QED

Florian Marquardt

We describe a scheme for the efficient generation of microwave photon pairs by parametric down-conversion in a superconducting transmission line resonator coupled to a Cooper-pair box serving as an artificial atom. By properly tuning the first three levels with respect to the cavity modes, the down-conversion probability may reach the percentage level at good fidelity. We show this by numerically simulating the dissipative quantum dynamics of the coupled cavity-box system and discussing the effects of dephasing and relaxation in the solid state environment. The setup analyzed here might form the basis for a future on-chip source of entangled microwave photons, e.g., using Franson's idea of energy-time entanglement.

arXiv:cond-mat/0605232•Physical Review B•Nov 13, 2007•42 citations

Colloquium: Stimulating uncertainty: Amplifying the quantum vacuum with superconducting circuits

Paul D. Nation, J. R. Johansson, M. P. Blencowe +1 more

The ability to generate particles from the quantum vacuum is one of the most profound consequences of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Although the significance of vacuum fluctuations can be seen throughout physics, the experimental realization of vacuum amplification effects has until now been limited to a few cases. Superconducting circuit devices, driven by the goal to achieve a viable quantum computer, have been used in the experimental demonstration of the dynamical Casimir effect, and may soon be able to realize the elusive verification of analog Hawking radiation. This Colloquium article describes several mechanisms for generating photons from the quantum vacuum and emphasizes their connection to the well-known parametric amplifier from quantum optics. Discussed in detail is the possible realization of each mechanism, or its analog, in superconducting circuit systems. The ability to selectively engineer these circuit devices highlights the relationship between the various amplification mechanisms.

arXiv:1103.0835•Reviews of Modern Physics•Jan 11, 2012•489 citations

Parametric amplification of an optomechanical quantum interconnect

Huo Chen, Marti Vives, Mekena Metcalf

Connecting superconducting qubits to optical fiber necessitates the conversion of microwave photons to optical photons. Modern experimental demonstrations exhibit strong coupling between a microwave resonator and an optical cavity mediated through phononic modes in a mechanical oscillator. This paradigmatic transduction experiment is bounded by a theoretical efficiency with constant driving amplitudes on electromagnetic resonators. By adding a parametric drive to the microwave resonator and optical cavity, we discover the converted signal through the quantum transducer is amplified, while maintaining a lower level of the added noise. We propose a theoretical framework for time-dependent control of the driving lasers based on the input-output formalism of quantum optics and solve analytically the transduction efficiency and added noise when the control signals parametrically drive the system. Our results show better transduction efficiency and lower added noise in varying parameter regimes relevant to current transduction experiments.

arXiv:2202.12291•Physical Review Research•Nov 18, 2022•0 citations

Tunable-Size Unruh-DeWitt Detector in a Multimode Cavity

Simon Brunner, Farokh Mivehvar, Helmut Ritsch +1 more

Quantum simulators based on Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) provide a powerful platform to study relativistic quantum-field phenomena in the lab and in particular emulate relativistic analog particle detectors. However, such detectors typically couple to excitations beyond the acoustic phonon regime, so that the nonlinear Bogoliubov dispersion introduces corrections that cause the effective relativistic description to break down. We propose to overcome this limitation using an intrinsically momentum-selective Unruh-DeWitt detector model in which a tweezer-trapped atom couples to the condensate through a multimode optical cavity. Although the atom is effectively pointlike, the cavity-mediated interaction kernel causes it to sample density fluctuations over a controllable finite region of the BEC equivalent to a finite-size detector. The effective detector size is tunable via the cavity mode structure determining a controllable momentum cutoff that filters out nonphononic excitations. We analytically calculate the response of such a detector for uniform linear acceleration and uniform circular motion and show that this momentum selectivity can enhance the signal at experimentally accessible accelerations. Compatible with existing cavity-QED platforms our scheme thus provides a versatile setting for analog quantum-field measurements or relativistic quantum-information protocols.

quant-pharXiv:2608.24451•Aug 26, 2026•0 citations

Ultrastrong optomechanics incorporating the dynamical Casimir effect

Paul D. Nation, Junho Suh, M. P. Blencowe

We propose a superconducting circuit comprising a dc superconducting quantum interference device with a mechanically compliant arm embedded in a coplanar microwave cavity that realizes an optomechanical system with a degenerate or nondegenerate parametric interaction generated via the dynamical Casimir effect. For experimentally feasible parameters, this setup is capable of reaching the single-photon ultrastrong-coupling regime while simultaneously possessing a parametric coupling strength approaching the renormalized cavity frequency. This opens up the possibility of observing the interplay between these two fundamental nonlinearities at the single-photon level.

arXiv:1507.00115•Physical Review A•Feb 23, 2016•28 citations

Entanglement generation and relativistic simulation with cQED parametric oscillators

Andrés Agustí Casado

On this PhD thesis we cover the results contained in arXiv:2001.07050, arXiv:2111.10096 and arXiv:2011.02822, while providing further details about their derivations. In the first two papers, we study the generation and detection of entangled non-Gaussian states of microwave radiation. These states are produced in a new parametric oscillator, built recently within the field of cQED, capable of down-converting a microwave tone into three different tones at once. These three photons share among their magnitudes quantum correlations, in particular genuine entanglement. In this text we refer to it as non-Gaussian because of its manifestation on statistical moments higher than covariances, and we propose a simple and practical criterion for the design of witnesses capable of detecting it: they must be built from higher statistical moments that change through time. Additionally, we speculate on the theoretical implications of the criterion and find suggestive connections to other entanglement classes, such as the paradigmatic nonequivalent GHZ and W three qubit states. In the third paper, we explore one of the possible applications of quantum technologies: analog simulation of quantum systems. The literature prior to this thesis showcases multiple examples of superconducting circuits capable of mimicking systems in which one must consider both quantum and relativistic phenomena, such as the dynamical Casimir and Unruh effects. This work explores the information that can be obtained through analog simulation, proposing a circuit capable of featuring the internal dynamics of a mirror experiencing a relativistic trajectory, that is, a mirror producing the dynamical Casimir effect.

arXiv:2210.00981•Oct 3, 2022•0 citations
We consider a model for an oscillatory, relativistic accelerating photodetector inside a cavity and show that the entangled photon pair production from the vacuum (Unruh effect) can be accurately described in the steady state by a nondegenerate parametric amplifier (NDPA), with the detector's accelerating center of mass serving as the parametric drive (pump). We propose an oscillatory Unruh effect analog NDPA microwave superconducting circuit scheme, where the breathing mode of the coupling capacitance between the cavity and detector provides the mechanical pump. For realizable circuit parameters, the resulting photon production from the vacuum should be detectable.
We describe a scheme for the efficient generation of microwave photon pairs by parametric down-conversion in a superconducting transmission line resonator coupled to a Cooper-pair box serving as an artificial atom. By properly tuning the first three levels with respect to the cavity modes, the down-conversion probability may reach the percentage level at good fidelity. We show this by numerically simulating the dissipative quantum dynamics of the coupled cavity-box system and discussing the effects of dephasing and relaxation in the solid state environment. The setup analyzed here might form the basis for a future on-chip source of entangled microwave photons, e.g., using Franson's idea of energy-time entanglement.
The ability to generate particles from the quantum vacuum is one of the most profound consequences of Heisenberg's uncertainty principle. Although the significance of vacuum fluctuations can be seen throughout physics, the experimental realization of vacuum amplification effects has until now been limited to a few cases. Superconducting circuit devices, driven by the goal to achieve a viable quantum computer, have been used in the experimental demonstration of the dynamical Casimir effect, and may soon be able to realize the elusive verification of analog Hawking radiation. This Colloquium article describes several mechanisms for generating photons from the quantum vacuum and emphasizes their connection to the well-known parametric amplifier from quantum optics. Discussed in detail is the possible realization of each mechanism, or its analog, in superconducting circuit systems. The ability to selectively engineer these circuit devices highlights the relationship between the various amplification mechanisms.
Connecting superconducting qubits to optical fiber necessitates the conversion of microwave photons to optical photons. Modern experimental demonstrations exhibit strong coupling between a microwave resonator and an optical cavity mediated through phononic modes in a mechanical oscillator. This paradigmatic transduction experiment is bounded by a theoretical efficiency with constant driving amplitudes on electromagnetic resonators. By adding a parametric drive to the microwave resonator and optical cavity, we discover the converted signal through the quantum transducer is amplified, while maintaining a lower level of the added noise. We propose a theoretical framework for time-dependent control of the driving lasers based on the input-output formalism of quantum optics and solve analytically the transduction efficiency and added noise when the control signals parametrically drive the system. Our results show better transduction efficiency and lower added noise in varying parameter regimes relevant to current transduction experiments.
Quantum simulators based on Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) provide a powerful platform to study relativistic quantum-field phenomena in the lab and in particular emulate relativistic analog particle detectors. However, such detectors typically couple to excitations beyond the acoustic phonon regime, so that the nonlinear Bogoliubov dispersion introduces corrections that cause the effective relativistic description to break down. We propose to overcome this limitation using an intrinsically momentum-selective Unruh-DeWitt detector model in which a tweezer-trapped atom couples to the condensate through a multimode optical cavity. Although the atom is effectively pointlike, the cavity-mediated interaction kernel causes it to sample density fluctuations over a controllable finite region of the BEC equivalent to a finite-size detector. The effective detector size is tunable via the cavity mode structure determining a controllable momentum cutoff that filters out nonphononic excitations. We analytically calculate the response of such a detector for uniform linear acceleration and uniform circular motion and show that this momentum selectivity can enhance the signal at experimentally accessible accelerations. Compatible with existing cavity-QED platforms our scheme thus provides a versatile setting for analog quantum-field measurements or relativistic quantum-information protocols.
We propose a superconducting circuit comprising a dc superconducting quantum interference device with a mechanically compliant arm embedded in a coplanar microwave cavity that realizes an optomechanical system with a degenerate or nondegenerate parametric interaction generated via the dynamical Casimir effect. For experimentally feasible parameters, this setup is capable of reaching the single-photon ultrastrong-coupling regime while simultaneously possessing a parametric coupling strength approaching the renormalized cavity frequency. This opens up the possibility of observing the interplay between these two fundamental nonlinearities at the single-photon level.
On this PhD thesis we cover the results contained in arXiv:2001.07050, arXiv:2111.10096 and arXiv:2011.02822, while providing further details about their derivations. In the first two papers, we study the generation and detection of entangled non-Gaussian states of microwave radiation. These states are produced in a new parametric oscillator, built recently within the field of cQED, capable of down-converting a microwave tone into three different tones at once. These three photons share among their magnitudes quantum correlations, in particular genuine entanglement. In this text we refer to it as non-Gaussian because of its manifestation on statistical moments higher than covariances, and we propose a simple and practical criterion for the design of witnesses capable of detecting it: they must be built from higher statistical moments that change through time. Additionally, we speculate on the theoretical implications of the criterion and find suggestive connections to other entanglement classes, such as the paradigmatic nonequivalent GHZ and W three qubit states. In the third paper, we explore one of the possible applications of quantum technologies: analog simulation of quantum systems. The literature prior to this thesis showcases multiple examples of superconducting circuits capable of mimicking systems in which one must consider both quantum and relativistic phenomena, such as the dynamical Casimir and Unruh effects. This work explores the information that can be obtained through analog simulation, proposing a circuit capable of featuring the internal dynamics of a mirror experiencing a relativistic trajectory, that is, a mirror producing the dynamical Casimir effect.