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:2002.00471 · Applied Physics Letters

Wavelength transduction from a 3D microwave cavity to telecom using piezoelectric optomechanical crystals

Hugh Ramp, Thomas J. Clark, Bradley D. Hauer, C. Doolin, Krishna C. Balram, Kartik A. Srinivasan, J. P. Davis

Published Apr 27, 2020• 24 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Microwave-to-optical transduction has received a great deal of interest from the cavity optomechanics community as a landmark application for electro-optomechanical systems. In this Letter, we demonstrate a novel transducer that combines high-frequency mechanical motion and a microwave cavity for the first time. The system consists of a 3D microwave cavity and a gallium arsenide optomechanical crystal, which has been placed in the microwave electric field maximum. This allows the microwave cavity to actuate the gigahertz-frequency mechanical breathing mode in the optomechanical crystal through the piezoelectric effect, which is then read out using a telecom optical mode. The gallium arsenide optomechanical crystal is a good candidate for low-noise microwave-to-telecom transduction, as it has been previously cooled to the mechanical ground state in a dilution refrigerator. Moreover, the 3D microwave cavity architecture can naturally be extended to couple to superconducting qubits and to create hybrid quantum systems.

DOI
10.1063/5.0002160

Related papers

Microwave-to-optical conversion with a gallium phosphide photonic crystal cavity

Simon Hönl, Youri Popoff, Daniele Caimi +3 more

Abstract Electrically actuated optomechanical resonators provide a route to quantum-coherent, bidirectional conversion of microwave and optical photons. Such devices could enable optical interconnection of quantum computers based on qubits operating at microwave frequencies. Here we present a platform for microwave-to-optical conversion comprising a photonic crystal cavity made of single-crystal, piezoelectric gallium phosphide integrated on pre-fabricated niobium circuits on an intrinsic silicon substrate. The devices exploit spatially extended, sideband-resolved mechanical breathing modes at ~3.2 GHz, with vacuum optomechanical coupling rates of up to g0/2π ≈ 300 kHz. The mechanical modes are driven by integrated microwave electrodes via the inverse piezoelectric effect. We estimate that the system could achieve an electromechanical coupling rate to a superconducting transmon qubit of ~200 kHz. Our work represents a decisive step towards integration of piezoelectro-optomechanical interfaces with superconducting quantum processors.

arXiv:2105.13242•Nature Communications•Apr 19, 2022•62 citations

Elimination of Thermomechanical Noise in Piezoelectric Optomechanical Crystals

Hugh Ramp, Bradley D. Hauer, Krishna C. Balram +3 more

Mechanical modes are a potentially useful resource for quantum information applications, such as quantum-level wavelength transducers, due to their ability to interact with electromagnetic radiation across the spectrum. A significant challenge for wavelength transducers is thermomechanical noise in the mechanical mode, which pollutes the transduced signal with thermal states. In this Letter, we eliminate thermomechanical noise in the GHz-frequency mechanical breathing mode of a piezoelectric optomechanical crystal using cryogenic cooling in a dilution refrigerator. We optically measure an average thermal occupancy of the mechanical mode of only 0.7±0.4 phonons, providing a path towards low-noise microwave-to-optical conversion in the quantum regime.

arXiv:1812.09417•Physical Review Letters•Aug 30, 2019•34 citations

Microwave-to-Optical Transduction with Gallium Phosphide Electro-Optomechanical Devices

Simon Hönl

Quantum computing is one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century. Small-scale systems today promise to surpass classical computers in the coming years and to enable the solution of classically intractable computational tasks in the fields of quantum chemistry, optimization, cryptography and more. In contrast to classical computers, quantum computers based on superconducting quantum bits (qubits) can to date not be linked over long distance in a network to improve their computing capacity, since devices, which preserve the quantumstate when it is transferred from one machine to another, are not available. Several approaches are being pursued to realize such a component, one of themost promising to date makes use of an intermediary, micromechanical element that enables quantum coherent conversion between the information present in the quantum computer and an optical fiber, without compromising the quantum nature of the information, via optomechanical interaction. This approach could allow fiber-optic quantum networks between separate quantum computers based on superconducting qubits in the future. In this work a platformfor such a microwave-to-optic link was developed based on the piezoelectric material gallium phosphide. This III-V semiconductor offers not only a piezoelectric coupling between the electric field of a microwave circuit and a mechanicalmode, but also a wide optical bandgap E_g = 2.26eV which reduces nonlinear optical absorption in the device and a large refractive index n(1550nm) = 3.01 which allows strong optical confinement at near-infrared wavelengths. Importantly and in contrast to other approaches with gallium phosphide, an epitaxially grown, single crystal thin film of the material is integrated directly on a silicon wafer with pre-structured niobium electrodes by direct wafer-bonding. This opens up the possibility of integrating the device design presented here directly with superconducting qubits fabricated with this material system. A microwave-to-optical transducer design was simulated and fabricated in the galliumphosphideon- silicon platform. The device was found to exhibit large vacuum optomechanical coupling rates g0/2 pi ~ 290kHz and a high intrinsic optical quality factor Q >10^5 while at the same time permitting electromechanical coupling to a microwave electrode. Coherent microwave-tooptical transductionwas shown at room temperature for this device and the electromechanical coupling rate could be extracted from a model derived by input-output theory. The electromechanical coupling between the electro-optomechanical device and a superconducting qubit was estimated to be g/2 pi = O(200kHz) which indicates that strong coupling between the here presented device and a superconducting transmon qubit is achievable. In addition, superconducting microwave cavities with high quality factor at single photon energy Q ~ 5x10^5 were fabricated and measured to verify that fabrication process of the microwave-to-optical transducer is compatible with high-quality superconducting microwave circuits.

•Jan 1, 2021•1 citation

Release-free electro-optomechanical crystal modulator

Paul Burger, Joey Frey, Johan Kolvik +2 more

Electro-optic modulation is central to classical optical communications and emerging quantum technologies. High-confinement optomechanical crystal modulators enable microwave-optical transduction through strong optomechanical interactions and offer a promising interface between superconducting qubits and optical fibers. However, their performance is limited by thermal noise from optical absorption. Release-free optomechanical crystals provide improved thermal anchoring but have not yet been integrated into a microwave-optical transducer. Here, we demonstrate a release-free electro-optomechanical transducer combining strong optomechanical interactions in silicon with the efficient piezoelectricity of lithium niobate via micro-transfer printing. We observe electro- and optomechanical coupling rates compatible with quantum-level operation when co-integrated with a superconducting microwave circuit. This advance moves release-free electro-optomechanical devices toward practical microwave-optical interfaces.

quant-pharXiv:2605.05190•May 7, 2026

Design of an ultra-low mode volume piezo-optomechanical quantum transducer

Piero Chiappina, Jash Banker, Srujan Meesala +3 more

Coherent transduction of quantum states from the microwave to the optical domain can play a key role in quantum networking and distributed quantum computing. We present the design of a piezo-optomechanical device formed in a hybrid lithium niobate on silicon platform, that is suitable for microwave-to-optical quantum transduction. Our design is based on acoustic hybridization of an ultra-low mode volume piezoacoustic cavity with an optomechanical crystal cavity. The strong piezoelectric nature of lithium niobate allows us to mediate transduction via an acoustic mode which only minimally interacts with the lithium niobate, and is predominantly silicon-like, with very low electrical and acoustic loss. We estimate that this transducer can realize an intrinsic conversion efficiency of up to 35% with <0.5 added noise quanta when resonantly coupled to a superconducting transmon qubit and operated in pulsed mode at 10 kHz repetition rate. The performance improvement gained in such hybrid lithium niobate-silicon transducers make them suitable for heralded entanglement of qubits between superconducting quantum processors connected by optical fiber links.

arXiv:2303.03664•Optics Express•Jun 14, 2023•14 citations

Principles for optimizing quantum transduction in piezo-optomechanical systems

James Schneeloch, Erin Sheridan, A. Matthew Smith +5 more

Two-way microwave-optical quantum transduction is essential to connecting distant superconducting qubits via optical fiber and to enable quantum networking at a large scale. In Blésin, Tian, Bhave, and Kippenberg's article [], they lay out a two-way quantum transducer converting between microwave photons and telecom-band photons by way of an intermediary gigahertz-band phonon mode utilizing piezoelectric and optomechanical interactions respectively (and are the first to work out the quantum piezoelectric coupling). In this work, we examine both the piezoelectric, and optomechanical interactions from first principles, and together with the evanescent coupling between optical modes, discuss what parameters matter most in optimizing this kind of quantum transducer. For its additional utility, we have also compiled a table of relevant properties of optical materials that may be used as elements in transducers.

arXiv:2312.04673•Physical Review A•May 7, 2025•2 citations
Microwave-to-optical transduction has received a great deal of interest from the cavity optomechanics community as a landmark application for electro-optomechanical systems. In this Letter, we demonstrate a novel transducer that combines high-frequency mechanical motion and a microwave cavity for the first time. The system consists of a 3D microwave cavity and a gallium arsenide optomechanical crystal, which has been placed in the microwave electric field maximum. This allows the microwave cavity to actuate the gigahertz-frequency mechanical breathing mode in the optomechanical crystal through the piezoelectric effect, which is then read out using a telecom optical mode. The gallium arsenide optomechanical crystal is a good candidate for low-noise microwave-to-telecom transduction, as it has been previously cooled to the mechanical ground state in a dilution refrigerator. Moreover, the 3D microwave cavity architecture can naturally be extended to couple to superconducting qubits and to create hybrid quantum systems.
Abstract Electrically actuated optomechanical resonators provide a route to quantum-coherent, bidirectional conversion of microwave and optical photons. Such devices could enable optical interconnection of quantum computers based on qubits operating at microwave frequencies. Here we present a platform for microwave-to-optical conversion comprising a photonic crystal cavity made of single-crystal, piezoelectric gallium phosphide integrated on pre-fabricated niobium circuits on an intrinsic silicon substrate. The devices exploit spatially extended, sideband-resolved mechanical breathing modes at ~3.2 GHz, with vacuum optomechanical coupling rates of up to g0/2π ≈ 300 kHz. The mechanical modes are driven by integrated microwave electrodes via the inverse piezoelectric effect. We estimate that the system could achieve an electromechanical coupling rate to a superconducting transmon qubit of ~200 kHz. Our work represents a decisive step towards integration of piezoelectro-optomechanical interfaces with superconducting quantum processors.
Mechanical modes are a potentially useful resource for quantum information applications, such as quantum-level wavelength transducers, due to their ability to interact with electromagnetic radiation across the spectrum. A significant challenge for wavelength transducers is thermomechanical noise in the mechanical mode, which pollutes the transduced signal with thermal states. In this Letter, we eliminate thermomechanical noise in the GHz-frequency mechanical breathing mode of a piezoelectric optomechanical crystal using cryogenic cooling in a dilution refrigerator. We optically measure an average thermal occupancy of the mechanical mode of only 0.7±0.4 phonons, providing a path towards low-noise microwave-to-optical conversion in the quantum regime.
Quantum computing is one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century. Small-scale systems today promise to surpass classical computers in the coming years and to enable the solution of classically intractable computational tasks in the fields of quantum chemistry, optimization, cryptography and more. In contrast to classical computers, quantum computers based on superconducting quantum bits (qubits) can to date not be linked over long distance in a network to improve their computing capacity, since devices, which preserve the quantumstate when it is transferred from one machine to another, are not available. Several approaches are being pursued to realize such a component, one of themost promising to date makes use of an intermediary, micromechanical element that enables quantum coherent conversion between the information present in the quantum computer and an optical fiber, without compromising the quantum nature of the information, via optomechanical interaction. This approach could allow fiber-optic quantum networks between separate quantum computers based on superconducting qubits in the future. In this work a platformfor such a microwave-to-optic link was developed based on the piezoelectric material gallium phosphide. This III-V semiconductor offers not only a piezoelectric coupling between the electric field of a microwave circuit and a mechanicalmode, but also a wide optical bandgap E_g = 2.26eV which reduces nonlinear optical absorption in the device and a large refractive index n(1550nm) = 3.01 which allows strong optical confinement at near-infrared wavelengths. Importantly and in contrast to other approaches with gallium phosphide, an epitaxially grown, single crystal thin film of the material is integrated directly on a silicon wafer with pre-structured niobium electrodes by direct wafer-bonding. This opens up the possibility of integrating the device design presented here directly with superconducting qubits fabricated with this material system. A microwave-to-optical transducer design was simulated and fabricated in the galliumphosphideon- silicon platform. The device was found to exhibit large vacuum optomechanical coupling rates g0/2 pi ~ 290kHz and a high intrinsic optical quality factor Q >10^5 while at the same time permitting electromechanical coupling to a microwave electrode. Coherent microwave-tooptical transductionwas shown at room temperature for this device and the electromechanical coupling rate could be extracted from a model derived by input-output theory. The electromechanical coupling between the electro-optomechanical device and a superconducting qubit was estimated to be g/2 pi = O(200kHz) which indicates that strong coupling between the here presented device and a superconducting transmon qubit is achievable. In addition, superconducting microwave cavities with high quality factor at single photon energy Q ~ 5x10^5 were fabricated and measured to verify that fabrication process of the microwave-to-optical transducer is compatible with high-quality superconducting microwave circuits.
Electro-optic modulation is central to classical optical communications and emerging quantum technologies. High-confinement optomechanical crystal modulators enable microwave-optical transduction through strong optomechanical interactions and offer a promising interface between superconducting qubits and optical fibers. However, their performance is limited by thermal noise from optical absorption. Release-free optomechanical crystals provide improved thermal anchoring but have not yet been integrated into a microwave-optical transducer. Here, we demonstrate a release-free electro-optomechanical transducer combining strong optomechanical interactions in silicon with the efficient piezoelectricity of lithium niobate via micro-transfer printing. We observe electro- and optomechanical coupling rates compatible with quantum-level operation when co-integrated with a superconducting microwave circuit. This advance moves release-free electro-optomechanical devices toward practical microwave-optical interfaces.
Coherent transduction of quantum states from the microwave to the optical domain can play a key role in quantum networking and distributed quantum computing. We present the design of a piezo-optomechanical device formed in a hybrid lithium niobate on silicon platform, that is suitable for microwave-to-optical quantum transduction. Our design is based on acoustic hybridization of an ultra-low mode volume piezoacoustic cavity with an optomechanical crystal cavity. The strong piezoelectric nature of lithium niobate allows us to mediate transduction via an acoustic mode which only minimally interacts with the lithium niobate, and is predominantly silicon-like, with very low electrical and acoustic loss. We estimate that this transducer can realize an intrinsic conversion efficiency of up to 35% with <0.5 added noise quanta when resonantly coupled to a superconducting transmon qubit and operated in pulsed mode at 10 kHz repetition rate. The performance improvement gained in such hybrid lithium niobate-silicon transducers make them suitable for heralded entanglement of qubits between superconducting quantum processors connected by optical fiber links.
Two-way microwave-optical quantum transduction is essential to connecting distant superconducting qubits via optical fiber and to enable quantum networking at a large scale. In Blésin, Tian, Bhave, and Kippenberg's article [], they lay out a two-way quantum transducer converting between microwave photons and telecom-band photons by way of an intermediary gigahertz-band phonon mode utilizing piezoelectric and optomechanical interactions respectively (and are the first to work out the quantum piezoelectric coupling). In this work, we examine both the piezoelectric, and optomechanical interactions from first principles, and together with the evanescent coupling between optical modes, discuss what parameters matter most in optimizing this kind of quantum transducer. For its additional utility, we have also compiled a table of relevant properties of optical materials that may be used as elements in transducers.