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arXiv:2202.08770 · Physical Review A

Proposal for transduction between microwave and optical photons using Er167 -doped yttrium orthosilicate

Faezeh Kimiaee Asadi, Jia-Wei Ji, Christoph Simon

Published Jun 30, 2022• 7 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Microwave photons can readily interact with superconducting qubits, but must be converted into shorter-wavelength optical photons before they can be used to transmit information, for example between systems in a quantum network. Here, the authors outline a microwave-to-optical transducer using dark states in rare-earth ions. As their scheme requires no external magnetic field, it avoids disturbing field-sensitive superconducting qubits.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.105.062608

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Microwave photons can readily interact with superconducting qubits, but must be converted into shorter-wavelength optical photons before they can be used to transmit information, for example between systems in a quantum network. Here, the authors outline a microwave-to-optical transducer using dark states in rare-earth ions. As their scheme requires no external magnetic field, it avoids disturbing field-sensitive superconducting qubits.
Abstract Optical networks that distribute entanglement among various quantum systems will form a powerful framework for quantum science but are yet to interface with leading quantum hardware such as superconducting qubits. Consequently, these systems remain isolated because microwave links at room temperature are noisy and lossy. Building long distance connectivity requires interfaces that map quantum information between microwave and optical fields. While preliminary microwave-to-optical transducers have been realized, developing efficient, low-noise devices that match superconducting qubit frequencies (gigahertz) and bandwidths (10 kilohertz – 1 megahertz) remains a challenge. Here we demonstrate a proof-of-concept on-chip transducer using trivalent ytterbium-171 ions in yttrium orthovanadate coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide and a microwave transmission line. The device′s miniaturization, material, and zero-magnetic-field operation are important advances for rare-earth ion magneto-optical devices. Further integration with high quality factor microwave and optical resonators will enable efficient transduction and create opportunities toward multi-platform quantum networks.
Microwave-to-optical quantum transducers are essential for entangling remote superconducting qubits. Among the available transduction platforms, ensembles of Er3+^{3+}3+ and Yb3+^{3+}3+ ions doped into solids have emerged as leading candidates. While external magnetic fields are needed to split the Zeeman levels of erbium ions and enable a microwave--qubit interface, superconducting qubits suffer decoherence in such fields. In contrast, ytterbium ions exhibit zero-first-order Zeeman transitions and large hyperfine splittings at zero magnetic field (when doped into inorganic crystals). Owing to its long optical and spin coherence times, Yb:YSO has been widely used as a quantum memory, yet its potential for quantum transduction remains largely unexplored. Investigating this material could enable the integration of quantum memory and transduction in a single platform. Here, we demonstrate microwave-to-optical transduction in the continuous-wave regime using a 5\,ppm doped Yb:YSO crystal. The internal transduction efficiency is 2×10−82\times10^{-8}2×10−8 with a bandwidth of 200\,kHz, achieved using a 3D loop-gap microwave resonator (LGR) and a single-pass optical configuration. We explore all the ground states that form a V-type three-level system with the first and second optical excited states and assert the use of the ground state, which provides the highest efficiency and isolated optical transition. We further establish strong spin-microwave coupling from avoided crossing measurements. With a strong microwave drive to saturate the spin transition, we estimate the spin population pumped into the excited state, close to the simulated value. Finally, we calculate target parameter values for maximum efficiency with our system and suggest using 50\,ppm doped Yb:YSO crystal. With the calculated target parameters, the internal transduction efficiency is predicted to reach up to 10−410^{-4}10−4 in the current LGR.
Optical networks that distribute entanglement among various quantum systems will form a powerful framework for quantum science but are yet to interface with leading quantum hardware such as superconducting qubits. Consequently, these systems remain isolated because microwave links at room temperature are noisy and lossy. Building long distance connectivity requires interfaces that map quantum information between microwave and optical fields. While preliminary microwave-to-optical transducers have been realized, developing efficient, low-noise devices that match superconducting qubit frequencies (gigahertz) and bandwidths (10 kilohertz - 1 megahertz) remains a challenge. Here we demonstrate a proof-of-concept on-chip transducer using trivalent ytterbium-171 ions in yttrium orthovanadate coupled to a nanophotonic waveguide and a microwave transmission line. The device's miniaturization, material, and zero-magnetic-field operation are important advances for rare-earth ion magneto-optical devices. Further integration with high quality factor microwave and optical resonators will enable efficient transduction and create opportunities toward multi-platform quantum networks.
This presentation focus on quantum transduction using rare-earth ions in solid state systems. We propose using magnetic materials with rare-earth dopants, harnessing the strong coupling between rare-earth spin transitions and magnons. We analyze this situation using a formalism similar to Ref. [PRL 113, 203601 (2014)]. We find that hosting rare-earth elements within a magnet dramatically speeds up the transduction rate by more than two orders of magnitude, which gives several key benefits: potentially higher efficiency as it is less affected by device internal losses, higher fidelity operations with the superconducting qubits, and reduced device constraints. Finally, we discuss several routes for implementing this type of quantum transducer.