Frequency conversion between microwave and optical photons is a key enabling technology for interconnecting superconducting quantum processors and realizing distributed quantum networks. We propose a microwave-optical transduction platform based on long-coherence-time superconducting radio-frequency (SRF) cavities coupled to electro-optic optical resonators, designed to mitigate the dominant loss mechanisms that currently limit high conversion efficiency. This architecture enables a significant enhancement in transduction efficiency, reaching up to 50% with an input pump power of 140 μW, thereby allowing the conversion of few-photon quantum signals. In addition, we propose a transduction-enabled superconducting quantum repeater architecture that supports deterministic quantum processing operations, along with a multi-time-bin encoding protocol for coherent microwave-to-optical photon conversion.
Silvia Zorzetti is a Principal Engineer at Fermilab, where she serves as Deputy Division Head for the SQMS Division. She leads efforts in co-design and quantum communication at both Fermilab and the SQMS Research Center, where she is the Thrust Leader for the Architectures and Use-Cases Thrust. She pursued her graduate studies as a Marie Curie Fellow at CERN. In 2017, she joined Fermilab as a Bardeen Fellow, and in 2023, she received the DOE Early Career Award for her research in quantum transduction. Silvia actively mentors students and interns at SQMS and holds an adjunct professorship at Northwestern University.
Amani Walker
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