Microwave photonics lends the advantages of fiber optics to electronic sensing and communication systems.In contrast to nonlinear optics, electro-optic devices so far require classical modulation fields whose variance is dominated by electronic or thermal noise rather than quantum fluctuations.Here we demonstrate bidirectional single-sideband conversion of X band microwave to C band telecom light with a microwave mode occupancy as low as 0.025 ± 0.005 and an added output noise of less than or equal to 0.074 photons.This is facilitated by radiative cooling and a triply resonant ultra-low-loss transducer operating at millikelvin temperatures.The high bandwidth of 10.7 MHz and total (internal) photon conversion efficiency of 0.03% (0.67%) combined with the extremely slow heating rate of 1.1 added output noise photons per second for the highest available pump power of 1.48 mW puts near-unity efficiency pulsed quantum transduction within reach.Together with the non-Gaussian resources of superconducting qubits this might provide the practical foundation to extend the range and scope of current quantum networks in analogy to electrical repeaters in classical fiber optic communication.
Microwave photonics lends the advantages of fiber optics to electronic sensing and communication systems.In contrast to nonlinear optics, electro-optic devices so far require classical modulation fields whose variance is dominated by electronic or thermal noise rather than quantum fluctuations.Here we demonstrate bidirectional single-sideband conversion of X band microwave to C band telecom light with a microwave mode occupancy as low as 0.025 ± 0.005 and an added output noise of less than or equal to 0.074 photons.This is facilitated by radiative cooling and a triply resonant ultra-low-loss transducer operating at millikelvin temperatures.The high bandwidth of 10.7 MHz and total (internal) photon conversion efficiency of 0.03% (0.67%) combined with the extremely slow heating rate of 1.1 added output noise photons per second for the highest available pump power of 1.48 mW puts near-unity efficiency pulsed quantum transduction within reach.Together with the non-Gaussian resources of superconducting qubits this might provide the practical foundation to extend the range and scope of current quantum networks in analogy to electrical repeaters in classical fiber optic communication.
Solid-state microwave systems offer strong interactions for fast quantum logic and sensing but photons at telecom wavelength are the ideal choice for high-density low-loss quantum interconnects. A general-purpose interface that can make use of single photon effects requires < 1 input noise quanta, which has remained elusive due to either low efficiency or pump induced heating. Here we demonstrate coherent electro-optic modulation on nanosecond-timescales with only [Formula: see text] microwave input noise photons with a total bidirectional transduction efficiency of 8.7% (or up to 15% with [Formula: see text]), as required for near-term heralded quantum network protocols. The use of short and high-power optical pump pulses also enables near-unity cooperativity of the electro-optic interaction leading to an internal pure conversion efficiency of up to 99.5%. Together with the low mode occupancy this provides evidence for electro-optic laser cooling and vacuum amplification as predicted a decade ago.
Abstract Practical quantum networks require low-loss and noise-resilient optical interconnects as well as non-Gaussian resources for entanglement distillation and distributed quantum computation. The latter could be provided by superconducting circuits but existing solutions to interface the microwave and optical domains lack either scalability or efficiency, and in most cases the conversion noise is not known. In this work we utilize the unique opportunities of silicon photonics, cavity optomechanics and superconducting circuits to demonstrate a fully integrated, coherent transducer interfacing the microwave X and the telecom S bands with a total (internal) bidirectional transduction efficiency of 1.2% (135%) at millikelvin temperatures. The coupling relies solely on the radiation pressure interaction mediated by the femtometer-scale motion of two silicon nanobeams reaching a Vπ as low as 16 μV for sub-nanowatt pump powers. Without the associated optomechanical gain, we achieve a total (internal) pure conversion efficiency of up to 0.019% (1.6%), relevant for future noise-free operation on this qubit-compatible platform.
Linking classical microwave electrical circuits to the optical telecommunication band is at the core of modern communication. Future quantum information networks will require coherent microwave-to-optical conversion to link electronic quantum processors and memories via low-loss optical telecommunication networks. Efficient conversion can be achieved with electro-optical modulators operating at the single microwave photon level. In the standard electro-optic modulation scheme this is impossible because both, up- and downconverted, sidebands are necessarily present. Here we demonstrate true single sideband up- or downconversion in a triply resonant whispering gallery mode resonator by explicitly addressing modes with asymmetric free spectral range. Compared to previous experiments, we show a three orders of magnitude improvement of the electro-optical conversion efficiency reaching 0.1% photon number conversion for a 10GHz microwave tone at 0.42mW of optical pump power. The presented scheme is fully compatible with existing superconducting 3D circuit quantum electrodynamics technology and can be used for non-classical state conversion and communication. Our conversion bandwidth is larger than 1MHz and not fundamentally limited.
Abstract Practical quantum networks require low-loss and noise-resilient optical interconnects as well as non-Gaussian resources for entanglement distillation and distributed quantum computation. The latter could be provided by superconducting circuits but existing solutions to interface the microwave and optical domains lack either scalability or efficiency, and in most cases the conversion noise is not known. In this work we utilize the unique opportunities of silicon photonics, cavity optomechanics and superconducting circuits to demonstrate a fully integrated, coherent transducer interfacing the microwave X and the telecom S bands with a total (internal) bidirectional transduction efficiency of 1.2% (135%) at millikelvin temperatures. The coupling relies solely on the radiation pressure interaction mediated by the femtometer-scale motion of two silicon nanobeams reaching a V π as low as 16 μV for sub-nanowatt pump powers. Without the associated optomechanical gain, we achieve a total (internal) pure conversion efficiency of up to 0.019% (1.6%), relevant for future noise-free operation on this qubit-compatible platform.
Efficient, low-noise, and high-bandwidth transduction between optical and microwave photons is key to long-range quantum communication between distant superconducting quantum processors. Recent demonstrations of microwave-optical transduction using the broadband direct electro-optic (Pockels) effect in optical thin films made of AlN or LiNbO 3 have shown promise. To improve efficiency and added noise, materials with larger Pockels coefficients, such as the soft ferroelectrics BaTiO 3 or SrTiO 3 , are needed. However, these materials require adapted designs and fabrication approaches due to their nonlinear and, in some cases, hysteretic electro-optic response. Here, we engineer an on-chip, triply resonant transducer comprising low-loss BaTiO 3 -on- SiO 2 waveguides monolithically integrated with a superconducting microwave resonator made of Nb. We demonstrate bidirectional microwave-optical transduction and reach total off-chip efficiencies of 1 × 10 − 6 using pulsed pumping. The device design permits poling of the ferroelectric material without introducing excess microwave loss, exploiting superconducting air bridges fabricated using only subtractive patterning steps. In addition, we investigate optically induced heating, revealing fast thermalization and quasiparticle resilience of the microwave resonator. Our transducer concept and fabrication process are applicable to other materials with a large bias-induced Pockels effect like SrTiO 3 and pave the way for efficient, low-power quantum interconnects.
The development of scalable quantum networks requires coherent interfaces capable of converting microwave photons used in superconducting quantum processors into optical photons suitable for long-distance fiber transmission. This review surveys recent progress in microwave-to-optical quantum transduction across optomechanical, electro-optic, and magneto-optic platforms, with emphasis on conversion efficiency, bandwidth, added noise, and operating temperature. In addition to standard metrics, we propose the internal efficiency eta_in and the magnon decay rate kappa_m/2pi as normalized parameters that enable fairer comparison across heterogeneous implementations. Optomechanical systems achieve internal phonon-to-photon efficiencies of 93% with sub-quantum added noise of 0.25 quanta at millikelvin temperatures. Electro-optic devices based on LiNbO3 and AlN have advanced from room-temperature efficiencies below 1% to millikelvin systems with internal efficiencies approaching 99.5%, added noise as low as 0.16 quanta at 60 mK, and bandwidths extending to several tens of megahertz. Magneto-optic (optomagnonic) platforms exhibit the lowest efficiencies (typically 10−10 to 10−8), but offer intrinsic non-reciprocity and broadband magnonic operation, with emerging approaches based on topological heterostructures and magnon squeezing predicting enhancements up to 10−4. Optomechanical systems appear promising for high-fidelity quantum state transfer, electro-optic transducers for high-bandwidth coherent links, and magneto-optic devices for non-reciprocal network components. We discuss the fundamental trade-off between efficiency and added noise across all three platforms, and argue that heterogeneous microwave-optical transduction is emerging as a key enabling technology for distributed quantum computing and large-scale quantum networks.