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International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics

Nonreciprocal Reconfigurable Microwave Optomechanical Circuit

Nathan Bernier, L. D. Tóth, Akshay Koottandavida, Marie Ioannou, Daniel Malz, Andreas Nunnenkamp, Alexey K. Feofanov, Tobias Jan Kippenberg

Published Jul 1, 2018• 22 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Nonreciprocal devices, such as isolators, are required to protect sensitive superconducting quantum circuits. Growing research has focused on integrated alternatives to the existing bulky ferrite technologies. Here we realize a nonreciprocal isolator with a multimode microwave optomechanical circuit. Two mechanical oscillators mediate frequency conversion between two microwave modes. Relying on dissipation and the phases of the microwaves tones, the signals interfere constructively in one direction and destructively in the other, resulting in a nonreciprocal isolator. We show how this scheme can be extended to directional amplification and to a circulator, if an additional microwave mode is introduced.

DOI
10.1109/omn.2018.8454648

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Nonreciprocal devices, such as isolators, are required to protect sensitive superconducting quantum circuits. Growing research has focused on integrated alternatives to the existing bulky ferrite technologies. Here we realize a nonreciprocal isolator with a multimode microwave optomechanical circuit. Two mechanical oscillators mediate frequency conversion between two microwave modes. Relying on dissipation and the phases of the microwaves tones, the signals interfere constructively in one direction and destructively in the other, resulting in a nonreciprocal isolator. We show how this scheme can be extended to directional amplification and to a circulator, if an additional microwave mode is introduced.
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.
Directional transport is obtained in various multimode systems by driving multiple, nonreciprocally interfering interactions between individual bosonic modes. However, systems sustaining the required number of modes become physically complex. In our microwave-optomechanical experiment, we show how to configure nonreciprocal transport between frequency components of a single superconducting cavity coupled to two drumhead oscillators. The frequency components are promoted to Floquet modes and generate the missing dimension to realize an isolator and a directional amplifier. A second cavity left free by this arrangement is used to cool the mechanical oscillators and bring the transduction noise close to the quantum limit. We furthermore uncover a new type of instability specific to nonreciprocal coupling. Our approach is generic and can greatly simplify quantum signal processing and the design of topological lattices from low-dimensional systems.
We theoretically propose a scheme of the nonreciprocal conversion device between photons of two arbitrary frequencies in a hybrid cavity optomechanical system, where two optical cavities and two microwave cavities are coupled to two different mechanical resonators via radiation pressure. Two mechanical resonators are coupled together via the Coulomb interaction. We study the nonreciprocal conversions between both the same and different types of frequency photons. The device is based on multichannel quantum interference to break the time-reversal symmetry. Our results show the perfect nonreciprocity conditions. By adjusting the Coulomb interaction and the phase differences, we find that the nonreciprocity can be modulated and even transformed into reciprocity. These results provide new insight into the design of nonreciprocal devices, including isolators, circulators, and routers in quantum information processing and quantum networks.
We report on the design and performance of an on-chip microwave circulator with a widely (GHz) tunable operation frequency.Nonreciprocity is created with a combination of frequency conversion and delay, and requires neither permanent magnets nor microwave bias tones, allowing on-chip integration with other superconducting circuits without the need for high-bandwidth control lines.Isolation in the device exceeds 20 dB over a bandwidth of tens of MHz, and its insertion loss is small, reaching as low as 0.9 dB at select operation frequencies.Furthermore, the device is linear with respect to input power for signal powers up to hundreds of fW (≈10 3 circulating photons), and the direction of circulation can be dynamically reconfigured.We demonstrate its operation at a selection of frequencies between 4 and 6 GHz.
Nonreciprocal systems breaking time-reversal symmetry are essential tools in modern quantum technologies enabling the suppression of unwanted reflected signals or extraneous noise entering through detection ports. Here we propose a scheme enabling nonreciprocal conversion between optical and radio-frequency (rf) photons using exclusively optomechanical and electromechanical interactions. The nonreciprocal transmission is obtained by interference of two dissipative pathways of transmission between the two electromagnetic modes established through two distinct intermediate mechanical modes. In our protocol, we apply a bichromatic drive to the cavity mode and a single-tone drive to the rf resonator, and use the relative phase between the drive tones to obtain nonreciprocity. We show that perfect nonreciprocal transduction can be obtained in the limit of large cooperativity in both directions, from optical to rf and vice versa. We also study the transducer noise and show that mechanical thermal noise is always reflected back onto the isolated port. In the limit of large cooperativity, the input noise is instead transmitted in an unaltered way in the allowed direction; in particular one has only vacuum noise in the output rf port in the case of optical-to-rf conversion.
Nonreciprocal circuit elements form an integral part of modern measurement and communication systems. Mathematically they require breaking of time-reversal symmetry, typically achieved using magnetic materials and more recently using the quantum Hall effect, parametric permittivity modulation or Josephson nonlinearities. Here we demonstrate an on-chip magnetic-free circulator based on reservoir-engineered electromechanic interactions. Directional circulation is achieved with controlled phase-sensitive interference of six distinct electro-mechanical signal conversion paths. The presented circulator is compact, its silicon-on-insulator platform is compatible with both superconducting qubits and silicon photonics, and its noise performance is close to the quantum limit. With a high dynamic range, a tunable bandwidth of up to 30 MHz and an in situ reconfigurability as beam splitter or wavelength converter, it could pave the way for superconducting qubit processors with multiplexed on-chip signal processing and readout.Nonreciprocal optical elements often require magnetic materials in order to break time-reversal symmetry. Here, Barzanjeh et al. demonstrate a magnetic-free on-chip microwave circulator that utilizes the interference from six electro-mechanical signal paths.