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High-efficiency coherent microwave-to-optics conversion via off-resonant scattering

Nature Photonics volume 16, pages 291–296 (2022)Cite this article

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Abstract

Quantum transducers that can convert quantum signals from the microwave to the optical domain are a crucial optical interface for quantum information technology. Coherent microwave-to-optics conversions have been realized with various physical platforms, but all of them are limited to low efficiencies of less than 50%—the threshold of the no-cloning quantum regime. Here we report coherent microwave-to-optics transduction using Rydberg atoms and off-resonant scattering technique with an efficiency of 82 ± 2% and a bandwidth of about 1 MHz. The high conversion efficiency is maintained for microwave photons ranging from thousands to about 50, suggesting that our transduction is readily applicable to the single-photon level. Without requiring cavities or aggressive cooling for the quantum ground states, our results would push atomic transducers closer to practical applications in quantum technologies.

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Fig. 1: Theoretical analysis of microwave-to-optics conversion via off-resonant scattering.
Fig. 2: Experimental demonstration of microwave-to-optics conversion in cold atoms.
Fig. 3: Conversion efficiency and bandwidth via off-resonant scattering.

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Data availability

The data supporting the results in this study are available within the paper and Supplementary Information. The raw datasets generated during the study are too large to be publicly shared, but they are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

Code availability

The codes used for the theoretical simulations are available from the corresponding authors upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank T. Vogt, W. Li, J. Han and W. Li for useful discussions. The work was supported by the Key Area Research and Development Program of Guangdong province (grant nos. 2019B030330001 (S.-L.Z., H.Y., K.-Y.L. and X.-D.Z.) and 2020B0301030008 (H.Y.)); the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant nos. 91636218 (S.-L.Z., H.Y. and K.-Y.L.), 11804104 (K.-Y.L.), 11822403 (H.Y.), 61875060 (X.-D.Z.), U1801661 (S.-L.Z. and H.Y.) and U20A2074 (H.Y.)); the Key Project of Science and Technology of Guangzhou (grant nos. 201902020002 (X.-D.Z.) and 2019050001 (S.-L.Z. and H.Y.)); and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (grant no. 2020YFA0309500 (Z.-X.Z.)).

Author information

Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Quantum Engineering and Quantum Materials, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao, Zuan-Xian Zhang, Xiao-Hong Liu, Shun-Yuan Zheng, Shu-Zhe Yang, Xin-Ding Zhang, Hui Yan & Shi-Liang Zhu

  2. School of Physics and Telecommunication Engineering, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao, Zuan-Xian Zhang, Xiao-Hong Liu, Shun-Yuan Zheng, Shu-Zhe Yang, Xin-Ding Zhang, Hui Yan & Shi-Liang Zhu

  3. Guangdong-Hong Kong Joint Laboratory of Quantum Matter, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao, Zuan-Xian Zhang, Xiao-Hong Liu, Shun-Yuan Zheng, Shu-Zhe Yang, Xin-Ding Zhang, Hui Yan & Shi-Liang Zhu

  4. Frontier Research Institute for Physics, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao, Zuan-Xian Zhang, Xiao-Hong Liu, Shun-Yuan Zheng, Shu-Zhe Yang, Xin-Ding Zhang, Hui Yan & Shi-Liang Zhu

  5. GPETR Center for Quantum Precision Measurement, South China Normal University, Guangzhou, China

    Hai-Tao Tu, Kai-Yu Liao, Xin-Ding Zhang & Hui Yan

  6. SCNU Qingyuan Institute of Science and Technology Innovation Co., Ltd., Qingyuan, China

    Xin-Ding Zhang

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Contributions

K.-Y.L. and H.Y. designed the experiment. H.-T.T., Z.-X.Z, X.-H.L. and S.-Z.Y. carried out the experiments. H.-T.T., K.-Y.L., S.-Y.Z. and X.-D.Z. conducted the raw-data analysis. K.-Y.L., H.Y. and S.-L.Z. wrote the paper, and all the authors discussed the paper’s contents. H.Y. and S.-L.Z. supervised the project.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Kai-Yu Liao, Hui Yan or Shi-Liang Zhu.

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Nature Photonics thanks Jacob Covey and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Supplementary Sections I–VI and Figs. 1–4.

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Tu, HT., Liao, KY., Zhang, ZX. et al. High-efficiency coherent microwave-to-optics conversion via off-resonant scattering. Nat. Photon. 16, 291–296 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-022-00959-3

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