Speaker
Description
The past few years have seen the rapid maturation of quantum information processors, particularly in the category of superconducting microwave circuits. With claims from leading companies that they will commercialize quantum processors in the next five years, we must wonder what quantum technologies should be developed in tandem to fully utilize these processors. For example, we are all acutely aware that while our personal computers are powerful, they are considerably more useful and interesting when networked together. So how can we likewise network quantum processors? Especially since the microwave signals of superconducting processors cannot be transmitted at room temperature without thermal decoherence. What if instead, one could link superconducting processors together through existing fiber-optic networks, which are already capable of long distance quantum information transfer? Hence the development of a transducer of quantum information from the microwave to telecom domain has become highly desirable. I will describe the current state of microwave to optical transducers, and how our lab is working towards this goal. Specifically, I will discuss the progress and challenges associated with the development of fiber-coupled telecom-wavelength cavity optomechanical resonators, and 3D superconducting microwave cavities, operating at millikelvin temperatures. I will also discuss ongoing collaborations that could enable implementation of quantum information transducers in a large-scale fiber network in Alberta.
