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Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC)

In Situ Optomechanical Mode Tuning Engineered using an Integrated MEMS Varactor for Enhancing Efficiency of Microwave-to-Optical Quantum Transduction

Ankur Khurana, Pisu Jiang, Krishna C. Balram

Published Jun 26, 2023• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

Piezoelectric optomechanical platforms have provided a reliable route towards efficient microwave-to-optical signal transduction. In these approaches, the wavelength mismatch between the microwave (≈ cm) and the optical$(\approx\mu \mathrm{m})$signals is circumvented by converting the microwave signal to an acoustic wave (wavelength ≈ few$\mu\mathrm{m}$at GHz frequencies), using a piezoelectric resonator, thus providing a large overlap (coupling) between the interacting fields [1], [2]. The transduction efficiency of these devices can be significantly enhanced by hybridising the modes of the piezoelectric resonator and the optomechanical cavity to form a mechanical supermode [2], [3]. However, such hybridisation requires both the frequency and impedance matching between the piezoelectric resonator and the optomechanical cavity, which is restricted by the fabrication lithography. In this study, we propose to achieve the in situ impedance and frequency matching using an LC network containing a MEMS varactor. A piezoelectric resonator can be represented using Butterworth-Van Dyke (BVD) model consisting of four element RLC network, which can be tuned when connected to a varactor in the network, and a MEMS capacitor can be integrated within the same device and is highly power efficient.

DOI
10.1109/cleo/europe-eqec57999.2023.10231923

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Piezoelectric optomechanical platforms have provided a reliable route towards efficient microwave-to-optical signal transduction. In these approaches, the wavelength mismatch between the microwave (≈ cm) and the optical(≈μm)(\approx\mu \mathrm{m})(≈μm)signals is circumvented by converting the microwave signal to an acoustic wave (wavelength ≈ fewμm\mu\mathrm{m}μmat GHz frequencies), using a piezoelectric resonator, thus providing a large overlap (coupling) between the interacting fields [1], [2]. The transduction efficiency of these devices can be significantly enhanced by hybridising the modes of the piezoelectric resonator and the optomechanical cavity to form a mechanical supermode [2], [3]. However, such hybridisation requires both the frequency and impedance matching between the piezoelectric resonator and the optomechanical cavity, which is restricted by the fabrication lithography. In this study, we propose to achieve the in situ impedance and frequency matching using an LC network containing a MEMS varactor. A piezoelectric resonator can be represented using Butterworth-Van Dyke (BVD) model consisting of four element RLC network, which can be tuned when connected to a varactor in the network, and a MEMS capacitor can be integrated within the same device and is highly power efficient.
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Piezoelectric optomechanical platforms represent one of the most promising routes toward achieving quantum transduction of photons between the microwave and optical frequency domains. However, there are significant challenges to achieving near-unity transduction efficiency. The authors discuss such factors in the context of the two main approaches being pursued for high efficiency transduction. The first approach uses 1D nanobeam optomechanical crystals excited by interdigitated transducers and is characterized by large single-photon optomechanical coupling strength, limited intracavity pump photon population to avoid absorption-induced heating (at cryogenic temperature), and low phonon injection efficiency from the transducer to the optomechanical cavity. The second approach uses (quasi) bulk acoustic wave resonators integrated into photonic Fabry–Perot cavity geometries and is characterized by low single-photon optomechanical coupling strength, high intracavity pump photon population without significant heating, and high phonon injection efficiency. After reviewing the current status of both approaches, the need for co-designing the electromechanical and optomechanical sub-systems is discussed in order to achieve high transduction efficiencies, taking the GaAs piezo-optomechanical platform as an example.
The successes of superconducting quantum circuits at local manipulation of quantum information and photonics technology at long-distance transmission of the same have spurred interest in the development of quantum transducers for efficient, low-noise, and bidirectional frequency conversion of photons between the microwave and optical domains. We propose to realize such functionality through the coupling of electrical, piezoelectric, and optomechanical resonators. The coupling of the mechanical subsystems enables formation of a resonant mechanical supermode that provides a mechanically-mediated, efficient single interface to both the microwave and optical domains. The conversion process is analyzed by applying an equivalent circuit model that relates device-level parameters to overall figures of merit for conversion efficiency η\etaη and added noise NNN. These can be further enhanced by proper impedance matching of the transducer to an input microwave transmission line. The performance of potential transducers is assessed through finite-element simulations, with a focus on geometries in GaAs, followed by considerations of the AlN, LiNbO3_33​, and AlN-on-Si platforms. We present strategies for maximizing η\etaη and minimizing NNN, and find that simultaneously achieving η>50 %\eta>50~\%η>50 % and N<0.5N < 0.5N<0.5 should be possible with current technology. Our comprehensive analysis of the full transduction chain enables us to outline a development path for the realization of high-performance quantum transducers that will constitute a new resource for quantum information science.
Abstract Piezoelectric optomechanical platforms represent one of the most promising routes toward achieving quantum transduction of photons between the microwave and optical frequency domains. However, there are significant challenges to achieving near‐unity transduction efficiency. The authors discuss such factors in the context of the two main approaches being pursued for high efficiency transduction. The first approach uses 1D nanobeam optomechanical crystals excited by interdigitated transducers and is characterized by large single‐photon optomechanical coupling strength, limited intracavity pump photon population to avoid absorption‐induced heating (at cryogenic temperature), and low phonon injection efficiency from the transducer to the optomechanical cavity. The second approach uses (quasi) bulk acoustic wave resonators integrated into photonic Fabry–Perot cavity geometries and is characterized by low single‐photon optomechanical coupling strength, high intracavity pump photon population without significant heating, and high phonon injection efficiency. After reviewing the current status of both approaches, the need for co‐designing the electromechanical and optomechanical sub‐systems is discussed in order to achieve high transduction efficiencies, taking the GaAs piezo‐optomechanical platform as an example.
A device capable of converting single quanta of the microwave field to the optical domain is an outstanding endeavor in the context of quantum interconnects between distant superconducting qubits, but likewise can have applications in other fields, such as radio astronomy or, in the classical realm, microwave photonics. A variety of transduction approaches, based on optomechanical or electro-optical interactions, have been proposed and realized, yet the required vanishing added noises and an efficiency approaching unity, have not yet been attained. Here we present a transduction scheme that could in theory satisfy the requirements for quantum coherent bidirectional transduction. Our scheme relies on an intermediary mechanical mode, a high-overtone bulk acoustic resonance (HBAR), to coherently couple microwave and optical photons through the piezoelectric and strain-optical effects. Its efficiency results from the combination of integrated Si3N4{\mathrm{Si}}_{3}{\mathrm{N}}_{4}Si3​N4​ photonic circuits with ultra-low loss sustaining high intracavity photon numbers with the highly efficient microwave to mechanical transduction offered by piezoelectrically coupled HBAR. We develop a quantum theory for this multipartite system by first introducing a quantization method for the piezoelectric interaction between the microwave mode and the mechanical mode from first principles (which to our knowledge has not been presented in this form) and link the latter to the conventional Butterworth-Van Dyke model. The HBAR is subsequently coupled to a pair of hybridized optical modes from coupled optical ring cavities via the strain-optical effect. We analyze the conversion capabilities of the proposed device using signal flow graphs, and demonstrate that near quantum coherent transduction is possible, with realistic experimental parameters. Combined with the high thermal conduction via the device bulk, heating effects are mitigated, and the approach does not require superconducting resonators that are susceptible to absorption of optical photons.
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.