Interfacing Superconducting Qubits and Telecom Photons via a Rare-Earth Doped Crystal

  1. Christopher O'Brien,
  2. Nikolai Lauk,
  3. Susanne Blum,
  4. Giovanna Morigi,
  5. and Michael Fleischhauer
We propose a scheme to couple short single photon pulses to superconducting qubits. An optical photon is first absorbed into an inhomogeneously broadened rare-earth doped crystal using controlled reversible inhomogeneous broadening. The optical excitation is then mapped into a spin state using a series of π-pulses and subsequently transferred to a superconducting qubit via a microwave cavity. To overcome the intrinsic and engineered inhomogeneous broadening of the optical and spin transitions in rare earth doped crystals, we make use of a special transfer protocol using staggered π-pulses. We predict total transfer efficiencies on the order of 90%.

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