A quantum interface between microwave and optical photons is essential for entangling remote superconducting quantum processors. To preserve fragile quantum states, a transducer must operate efficiently while generating less than one photon of noise referred to its input. Here, we present a platform that meets these criteria, utilizing a combination of electrostatic and optomechanical interactions in devices made entirely from crystalline silicon. This platform's small mechanical dissipation and low optical absorption enable ground-state radiative cooling, resulting in quantum-enabled operation with a continuous laser drive. Under the optimal settings for high efficiency (low noise), we measure an external efficiency of 2.2% (0.47%) and an input-referred added noise of 0.94 (0.58) in microwave-to-optics conversion. We quantify the transducer throughput using the efficiency-bandwidth product, finding it exceeds previous demonstrations with similar noise performance by approximately two orders of magnitude, thereby paving a practical path to interconnecting remote superconducting qubits.
@article{arxiv.2406.02704,
title = {Quantum-enabled continuous microwave-to-optics frequency conversion},
author = {Han Zhao and William David Chen and Abhishek Kejriwal and Mohammad Mirhosseini},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.02704},
year = {2024}
}