Electromagnetic fields carry momentum, which upon reflection on matter, gives rise to the radiation pressure of photons. The radiation pressure has recently been utilized in cavityoptomechanics for controlling mechanical motions of macroscopic objects at the quantum limit. However, because of the weakness of the interaction, attempts so far had to use a strong coherent drive to reach the quantum limit. Therefore, the single photon quantum regime, where even the presence of a totally off-resonant single photon alters the quantum state of the mechanical mode significantly, is one of the next milestones in cavity optomechanics. Here we demonstrate an artificial realization of the radiation pressure of microwave photons acting on phonons in a surface acoustic wave resonator. The order-of-magnitude enhancement of the interaction strength originates in the well-tailored strong second-order nonlinearity of a superconducting Josephson-junction circuit. The synthetic radiation pressure interaction adds a key element to the quantum optomechanical toolbox and can be applied to quantum information interfaces between electromagnetic and mechanical degrees of freedom.
We demonstrate ultra-sensitive measurement of fluctuations in a surface-acoustic-wave~(SAW) resonator using a hybrid quantum system consisting of the SAW resonator, a microwave (MW)resonator and a superconducting qubit. The nonlinearity of the driven qubit induces parametric coupling, which up-converts the excitation in the SAW resonator to that in the MW resonator. Thermal fluctuations of the SAW resonator near the quantum limit are observed in the noise spectroscopy in the MW domain.
Collective excitation modes in solid state systems play a central role in circuit quantum electrodynamics, cavity optomechanics, and quantum magnonics. In the latter, quanta of collectiveexcitation modes in a ferromagnet, called magnons, interact with qubits to provide the nonlinearity necessary to access quantum phenomena in magnonics. A key ingredient for future quantum magnonics systems is the ability to probe magnon states. Here we observe individual magnons in a millimeter-sized ferromagnet coherently coupled to a superconducting qubit. Specifically, we resolve magnon number states in spectroscopic measurements of a transmon qubit with the hybrid system in the strong dispersive regime. This enables us to detect a change in the magnetic dipole of the ferromagnet equivalent to a single spin flipped among more than 1019 spins. The strong dispersive regime of quantum magnonics opens up the possibility of encoding superconducting qubits into non-classical magnon states, potentially providing a coherent interface between a superconducting quantum processor and optical photons.
The techniques of microwave quantum optics are applied to collective spin excitations in a macroscopic sphere of ferromagnetic insulator. We demonstrate, in the single-magnon limit,strong coupling between a magnetostatic mode in the sphere and a microwave cavity mode. Moreover, we introduce a superconducting qubit in the cavity and couple the qubit with the magnon excitation via the virtual photon excitation. We observe the magnon-vacuum-induced Rabi splitting. The hybrid quantum system enables generation and characterization of non-classical quantum states of magnons.
Rigidity of an ordered phase in condensed matter results in collective excitation modes spatially extending in macroscopic dimensions. Magnon is a quantum of an elementary excitationin the ordered spin system, such as ferromagnet. Being low dissipative, dynamics of magnons in ferromagnetic insulators has been extensively studied and widely applied for decades in the contexts of ferromagnetic resonance, and more recently of Bose-Einstein condensation as well as spintronics. Moreover, towards hybrid systems for quantum memories and transducers, coupling of magnons and microwave photons in a resonator have been investigated. However, quantum-state manipulation at the single-magnon level has remained elusive because of the lack of anharmonic element in the system. Here we demonstrate coherent coupling between a magnon excitation in a millimetre-sized ferromagnetic sphere and a superconducting qubit, where the interaction is mediated by the virtual photon excitation in a microwave cavity. We obtain the coupling strength far exceeding the damping rates, thus bringing the hybrid system into the strong coupling regime. Furthermore, we find a tunable magnon-qubit coupling scheme utilising a parametric drive with a microwave. Our approach provides a versatile tool for quantum control and measurement of the magnon excitations and thus opens a new discipline of quantum magnonics.
We demonstrate large normal splitting between a magnetostatic mode (the Kittel mode) in a ferromagnetic sphere of yttrium iron garnet and a microwave cavity mode. Strong coupling isachieved in the quantum regime where the average numbers of thermally and externally excited magnons and photons are less than one. We also confirm that the coupling strength is proportional to the square root of the number of spins. Non-monotonous temperature dependence of the Kittel-mode linewidth is observed below 1 K and is attributed to the dissipation due to the coupling with a bath of two-level systems.