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Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition

Optical readout of a superconducting qubit using a scalable piezo-optomechanical transducer

Pim Duivestein, Thierry Christiaan van Thiel, Matthew J. Weaver, Federico Berto, Mathilde Lemang, Kiki L. Schuurman, Martin Žemlička, Frederick Hijazi, Alexandra C. Bernasconi, Ella Lachman, Mark Field, Yuvraj Mohan, Fokko K. de Vries, Cornelis Christiaan Bultink, Jules van Oven, J. Mutus, Robert Stockill, Simon Gröblacher

Published Jan 1, 2024• 1 citation
Publisher

Abstract

Cryogenic systems will soon limit the scalability of superconducting qubit processors. To alleviate this bottleneck different control and readout methods are required. We demonstrate optical readout of a transmon qubit using a piezo-optomechanical transducer.
DOI
10.1364/quantum.2024.qw2c.2

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We demonstrate a piezo-optomechanical transducer, which uses an intermediate mode to transduce signals from the microwave to the optical domain. The device is a hybrid platform, combining a superconducting microwave resonator with a piezoelectric interface and a optomechanical nanobeam. The microwave frequency of the transducer can be matched to a superconducting qubit. Subsequently, an optical single-shot readout of a qubit using a demolition readout technique is demonstrated with a fidelity of 81 %. With enhanced transducer performance and the addition of optical qubit control to the system, the system is capable of supporting all-optical readout and control of a large number of qubits in parallel.
Entangling superconducting quantum processors via light would enable new means of secure communication and distributed quantum computing. However, transducing quantum signals between these disparate regimes of the electromagnetic spectrum remains an outstanding goal, and interfacing superconducting qubits with electro-optic transducers presents significant challenges due to the deleterious effects of optical photons on superconductors. Moreover, many remote entanglement protocols require multiple qubit gates both preceding and following the upconversion of the quantum state, and thus an ideal transducer should leave the state of the qubit unchanged: more precisely, the backaction from the transducer on the qubit should be minimal. Here we demonstrate non-destructive optical readout of a superconducting transmon qubit via a continuously operated electro-optic transducer. The modular nature of the transducer and circuit QED system used in this work enable complete isolation of the qubit from optical photons, and the backaction on the qubit from the transducer is less than that imparted by thermal radiation from the environment. Moderate improvements in transducer bandwidth and added noise will enable us to leverage the full suite of tools available in circuit QED to demonstrate transduction of non-classical signals from a superconducting qubit to the optical domain.
Optical quantum networks provide a natural route for connecting distant superconducting quantum processors, enabling distributed quantum computation, sensing, and communication. Piezo-optomechanical transducers are among the leading candidates for scalable microwave-to-optical quantum interfaces. However, prior one-dimensional piezo-optomechanical transducers remain limited by optical-absorption-induced heating and the resulting thermal noise. Two-dimensional optomechanical crystals offer substantially improved thermalization from better thermal anchoring, but their structural complexity has so far hindered the realization of a fully integrated two-dimensional transducer. Here, we overcome this challenge with a new design strategy based on band structure engineering. We fabricate the devices and experimentally characterize the response, measuring an electromechanical damping rate of 4.6 kHz at room temperature and electromechanical coupling rate of 0.17 MHz by wire-bonding to a multi-mode microwave resonator at 10 mK. Bidirectional transduction is performed with a calibrated internal efficiency of 0.85\% in the continuous-wave operation, alongside pulsed photon-phonon pair generation near its quantum ground state. Our results represent a significant step toward high-efficiency and low-noise transducers for entangling remote superconducting qubits.