Conversion between microwave and optical photons through atom-phonon hybrid modes in a waveguide-QED structure

摘要

We present an approach to achieve bi-directional conversion between microwave and optical photons based on a hybrid waveguide-QED structure. The proposed converter combines both the merits of optomechanical system and superconducting circuits. Through analysis, we obtain two different impedance matching conditions to realize an ideal conversion efficiency close to unity. One of the matching conditions is owing to atom-phonon hybrid modes, which is different from the well known one due to dark modes. The underlying physical mechanism is discussed in detail. The performance of the setup under different matching conditions is also compared. The device studied here may be realizable in the future experiments, suitable for on-chip integrations, and may have potential applications in the future quantum networks.