Phonon modes at microwave frequencies can be cooled to their quantum ground state using conventional cryogenic refrigeration, providing a convenient way to study and manipulate quantumstates at the single phonon level. Phonons are of particular interest because mechanical deformations can mediate interactions with a wide range of different quantum systems, including solid-state defects, superconducting qubits, as well as optical photons when using optomechanically-active constructs. Phonons thus hold promise for quantum-focused applications as diverse as sensing, information processing, and communication. Here, we describe a piezoelectric quantum bulk acoustic resonator (QBAR) with a 4.88 GHz resonant frequency that at cryogenic temperatures displays large electromechanical coupling strength combined with a high intrinsic mechanical quality factor Qi≈4.3×104. Using a recently-developed flip-chip technique, we couple this QBAR resonator to a superconducting qubit on a separate die and demonstrate quantum control of the mechanics in the coupled system. This approach promises a facile and flexible experimental approach to quantum acoustics and hybrid quantum systems.
Phonons, and in particular surface acoustic wave phonons, have been proposed as a means to coherently couple distant solid-state quantum systems. Recent experiments have shown thatsuperconducting qubits can control and detect individual phonons in a resonant structure, enabling the coherent generation and measurement of complex stationary phonon states. Here, we report the deterministic emission and capture of itinerant surface acoustic wave phonons, enabling the quantum entanglement of two superconducting qubits. Using a 2 mm-long acoustic quantum communication channel, equivalent to a 500 ns delay line, we demonstrate the emission and re-capture of a phonon by one qubit; quantum state transfer between two qubits with a 67\% efficiency; and, by partial transfer of a phonon between two qubits, generation of an entangled Bell pair with a fidelity of FB=84±1 %
Quantum communication relies on the efficient generation of entanglement between remote quantum nodes, due to entanglement’s key role in achieving and verifying secure communications.Remote entanglement has been realized using a number of different probabilistic schemes, but deterministic remote entanglement has only recently been demonstrated, using a variety of superconducting circuit approaches. However, the deterministic violation of a Bell inequality, a strong measure of quantum correlation, has not to date been demonstrated in a superconducting quantum communication architecture, in part because achieving sufficiently strong correlation requires fast and accurate control of the emission and capture of the entangling photons. Here we present a simple and scalable architecture for achieving this benchmark result in a superconducting system.