Single-photon strong cooperativity in microwave magneto-mechanics

  1. D. Zöpfl,
  2. M.L. Juan,
  3. C. M. F. Schneider,
  4. and G. Kirchmair
The possibility to operate massive mechanical resonators in the quantum regime has become central in fundamental sciences, in particular to test the boundaries of quantum mechanics.
Optomechanics, where photons (e.g. optical, microwave) are coupled to mechanical motion, provide the tools to control mechanical motion near the fundamental quantum limits. Reaching single-photon strong coupling would allow to prepare the mechanical resonator in non-Gaussian quantum states. Yet, this regime remains challenging to achieve with massive resonators due to the small optomechanical couplings. Here we demonstrate a novel approach where a massive mechanical resonator is magnetically coupled to a microwave cavity. By improving the coupling by one order of magnitude over current microwave optomechanical systems, we achieve single-photon strong cooperativity, an important intermediate step to reach single-photon strong coupling. Such strong interaction allows for cooling the mechanical resonator with on average a single photon in the microwave cavity. Beyond tests for quantum foundations, our approach is also well suited as a quantum sensor or a microwave to optical transducer.

Characterization of low loss microstrip resonators as a building block for circuit QED in a 3D waveguide

  1. D. Zöpfl,
  2. P.R. Muppalla,
  3. C. M. F. Schneider,
  4. S. Kasemann,
  5. S. Partel,
  6. and G. Kirchmair
Here we present the microwave characterization of microstrip resonators made from aluminum and niobium inside a 3D microwave waveguide. In the low temperature, low power limit internal
quality factors of up to one million were reached. We found a good agreement to models predicting conductive losses and losses to two level systems for increasing temperature. The setup presented here is appealing for testing materials and structures, as it is free of wire bonds and offers a well controlled microwave environment. In combination with transmon qubits, these resonators serve as a building block for a novel circuit QED architecture inside a rectangular waveguide.