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arXiv:1906.11353 · Physical Review Letters

Ultrastrong Parametric Coupling between a Superconducting Cavity and a Mechanical Resonator

G. A. Peterson, Shlomi Kotler, Florent Lecocq, Katarina Cicak, X. Y. Jin, Raymond W. Simmonds, José Aumentado, John D. Teufel

Published Dec 12, 2019• 67 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

We present a new optomechanical device where the motion of a micromechanical membrane couples to a microwave resonance of a three-dimensional superconducting cavity. With this architecture, we realize ultrastrong parametric coupling, where the coupling not only exceeds the dissipation in the system but also rivals the mechanical frequency itself. In this regime, the optomechanical interaction induces a frequency splitting between the hybridized normal modes that reaches 88% of the bare mechanical frequency, limited by the fundamental parametric instability. The coupling also exceeds the mechanical thermal decoherence rate, enabling new applications in ultrafast quantum state transfer and entanglement generation.

DOI
10.1103/physrevlett.123.247701

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We present a new optomechanical device where the motion of a micromechanical membrane couples to a microwave resonance of a three-dimensional superconducting cavity. With this architecture, we realize ultrastrong parametric coupling, where the coupling not only exceeds the dissipation in the system but also rivals the mechanical frequency itself. In this regime, the optomechanical interaction induces a frequency splitting between the hybridized normal modes that reaches 88% of the bare mechanical frequency, limited by the fundamental parametric instability. The coupling also exceeds the mechanical thermal decoherence rate, enabling new applications in ultrafast quantum state transfer and entanglement generation.
Summary form only given. The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate. An artist view of the device envisioned is depicted on Figure 1.
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.
The motion of a micromechanical resonator coupled simultaneously to a high-finesse optical cavity and a microwave resonator can be used to transduce the fragile quantum states generated in the realm of microwave superconducting circuits into optical photons that can transport quantum information over large distances in telecom optical fibers at room temperature. We have engineered the optical and mechanical properties of thin membranes patterned in a suspended high-stress Si3N4 film to realize such a hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system. An optical Fabry-Perot cavity with a finesse exceeding 12 000 was realized between a highly reflective photonic crystal patch realized on the suspended membrane and a conventional high-reflectivity mirror. The electromechanical coupling with a nearby planar superconducting circuit is achieved by approaching the membrane at a sub-micron distance from an on-chip interdigitated capacitor. By operating the hybrid opto-electro-mechanical system in a cryogenic environment, the photon-phonon swap rates between microwave, mechanical, and optical degrees of freedom is expected to overcome the mechanical decoherence rate.
Harmonic oscillators might be one of the most fundamental entities described by physics. Yet they stay relevant in recent research. The topological properties associated with exceptional points that can occur when two modes interact have generated much interest in recent years. Harmonic oscillators are also at the heart of new quantum technological applications: the long lifetime of high-Q resonators make them advantageous as quantum memories, and they are employed for narrowband processing of quantum signals, as in Josephson parametric amplifiers. The goal of this thesis is to explore different fundamental regimes of two coupled harmonic oscillators using cavity optomechanics as the experimen- tal platform. With consistent progress in attaining ever increasing Q factors, mechanical and electromagnetic resonators realize near-ideal harmonic oscillators. By parametrically modulating the nonlinear optomechanical interaction between them, an effective linear coupling is achieved, which is tunable in strength and in the relative frequencies of the two modes. Thus cavity optomechanics provides a framework with excellent control over system parameters for the study of two coupled harmonic modes. The specific optomechanical implementation employed are superconducting circuits with the vibrating top plate of a capacitor as the mechanical element. Multimode optomechanical circuits are realized, with two microwave modes interacting with one or two mechanical oscillators. The supplementary modes serve either as intermediaries in the relation of the two modes of interest, or as auxiliaries used to control a parameter of the system. Three main experimental results are achieved. First, an auxiliary microwave mode allows the engineering of the effective dissipation rate of a mechanical oscillator. The latter then acts as a reservoir for the main microwave mode with which it interacts. The microwave mode susceptibility can be tuned, resulting in an instability akin to that of a maser and in resonant amplification of incoming microwave signals with an added noise close to the quantum minimum. Second, we study the conditions for a nonreciprocal interaction between two microwave modes, when the information flows in one direction but not in the other. The two modes interact through two mechanical oscillators, leading to frequency conversion between the two cavities. Dissipation in the mechanical modes is essential to the scheme in two ways: it provides a reciprocal phase necessary for the interference and eliminates the unwanted signals. Third, level attraction between a microwave and a mechanical mode is demonstrated, where the eigenfrequencies of the system are drawn closer as the result of interaction, rather distancing themselves as in the more usual case of level repulsion. The phenomenon is theoretically connected to exceptional points, and a general classification of the possible regimes of interaction between two harmonic modes is exposed, including level repulsion and attraction as special cases.
We investigate a hybrid optomechanical system composed of a micromechanical oscillator as a movable membrane and an atomic three-level ensemble within an optical cavity. We show that a suitably tailored cavity field response via electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT) in the atomic medium allows for strong coupling of the membrane's mechanical oscillations to the collective atomic ground-state spin. This facilitates ground-state cooling of the membrane motion, quantum state mapping, and robust atom-membrane entanglement even for cavity widths larger than the mechanical resonance frequency.