Coherent Coupling of Two Remote Magnonic Resonators Mediated by Superconducting Circuits

Optomechanical Microwave-to-Optical Photon Transducer Chips: Empowering the Quantum Internet Revolution

The first quantum revolution has brought us the classical Internet and information technology. Today, as technology advances rapidly, the second quantum revolution quietly arrives, with a crucial moment for quantum technology to establish large-scale quantum networks. However, solid-state quantum bits (such as superconducting and semiconductor qubits) typically operate in the microwave frequency range, making it challenging to transmit signals over long distances. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop quantum transducer chips capable of converting microwaves into optical photons in the communication band, since the thermal noise of optical photons at room temperature is negligible, rendering them an ideal information carrier for large-scale spatial communication. Such devices are important for connecting different physical platforms and efficiently transmitting quantum information. This paper focuses on the fast-developing field of optomechanical quantum transducers, which has flourished over the past decade, yielding numerous advanced achievements. We categorize transducers based on various mechanical resonators and discuss their principles of operation and their achievements. Based on existing research on optomechanical transducers, we compare the parameters of several mechanical resonators and analyze their advantages and limitations, as well as provide prospects for the future development of quantum transducers.

Parametric magnon transduction to spin qubits

The integration of heterogeneous modular units for building large-scale quantum networks requires engineering mechanisms that allow suitable transduction of quantum information. Magnon-based transducers are especially attractive due to their wide range of interactions and rich nonlinear dynamics, but most of the work to date has focused on linear magnon transduction in the traditional system composed of yttrium iron garnet and diamond, two materials with difficult integrability into wafer-scale quantum circuits. In this work, we present a different approach by using wafer-compatible materials to engineer a hybrid transducer that exploits magnon nonlinearities in a magnetic microdisc to address quantum spin defects in silicon carbide. The resulting interaction scheme points to the unique transduction behavior that can be obtained when complementing quantum systems with nonlinear magnonics.

Slow-Wave Hybrid Magnonics

Cavity magnonics is an emerging research area focusing on the coupling between magnons and photons. Despite its great potential for coherent information processing, it has been long restricted by the narrow interaction bandwidth. In this Letter, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate a novel approach to achieve broadband photon-magnon coupling by adopting slow waves on engineered microwave waveguides. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time that slow wave is combined with hybrid magnonics. Its unique properties promise great potentials for both fundamental research and practical applications, for instance, by deepening our understanding of the light-matter interaction in the slow wave regime and providing high-efficiency spin wave transducers. The device concept can be extended to other systems such as optomagnonics and magnomechanics, opening up new directions for hybrid magnonics.

Scanning Spin Probe Based on Magnonic Vortex Quantum Cavities

Performing nanoscale scanning electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) requires three essential ingredients: First, a static magnetic field together with field gradients to Zeeman split the electronic energy levels with spatial resolution; second, a radio frequency (rf) magnetic field capable of inducing spin transitions; finally, a sensitive detection method to quantify the energy absorbed by spins. This is usually achieved by combining externally applied magnetic fields with inductive coils or cavities, fluorescent defects, or scanning probes. Here, we theoretically propose the realization of an EPR scanning sensor merging all three characteristics into a single device: the vortex core stabilized in ferromagnetic thin-film discs. On one hand, the vortex ground state generates a significant static magnetic field and field gradients. On the other hand, the precessional motion of the vortex core around its equilibrium position produces a circularly polarized oscillating magnetic field, which is enough to produce spin transitions. Finally, the spin-magnon coupling broadens the vortex gyrotropic frequency, suggesting a direct measure of the presence of unpaired electrons. Moreover, the vortex core can be displaced by simply using external magnetic fields of a few mT, enabling EPR scanning microscopy with large spatial resolution. Our numerical simulations show that, by using low damping magnets, it is theoretically possible to detect single spins located on the disc's surface. Vortex nanocavities could also attain strong coupling to individual spin molecular qubits with potential applications to mediate qubit-qubit interactions or to implement qubit readout protocols.

Meterscale Strong Coupling between Magnons and Photons

We experimentally realize a meterscale strong coupling effect between magnons and photons at room temperature, with a coherent coupling of ∼20  m and a dissipative coupling of ∼7.6  m. To this end, we integrate a saturable gain into a microwave cavity and then couple this active cavity to a magnon mode via a long coaxial cable. The gain compensates for the cavity dissipation, but preserves the cavity radiation that mediates the indirect photon-magnon coupling. It thus enables the long-range strong photon-magnon coupling. With full access to traveling waves, we demonstrate a remote control of photon-magnon coupling by modulating the phase and amplitude of traveling waves, rather than reconfiguring subsystems themselves. Our method for realizing long-range strong coupling in cavity magnonics provides a general idea for other physical systems. Our experimental achievements may promote the construction of information networks based on cavity magnonics.

Strong on-Chip Microwave Photon-Magnon Coupling Using Ultralow-Damping Epitaxial Y3Fe5O12 Films at 2 K

Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ is arguably the best magnetic material for magnonic quantum information science (QIS) because of its extremely low damping. We report ultralow damping at 2 K in epitaxial Y₃Fe₅O₁₂ thin films grown on a diamagnetic Y₃Sc₂Ga₃O₁₂ substrate that contains no rare-earth elements. Using these ultralow damping YIG films, we demonstrate for the first time strong coupling between magnons in patterned YIG thin films and microwave photons in a superconducting Nb resonator. This result paves the road toward scalable hybrid quantum systems that integrate superconducting microwave resonators, YIG film magnon conduits, and superconducting qubits into on-chip QIS devices.

Unveiling a Pump-Induced Magnon Mode via Its Strong Interaction with Walker Modes

We observe a power-dependent anticrossing of Walker spin-wave modes under microwave pumping when a ferrimagnet is placed in a microwave waveguide that does not support any discrete photon mode. We interpret this unexpected anticrossing as the generation of a pump-induced magnon mode that couples strongly to the Walker modes of the ferrimagnet. This anticrossing inherits an excellent tunability from the pump, which allows us to control the anticrossing via the pump power, frequency, and waveform. Further, we realize a remarkable functionality of this anticrossing, namely, a microwave frequency comb, in terms of the nonlinear interaction that mixes the pump and probe frequencies. Such a frequency comb originates from the magnetic dynamics and thereby does not suffer from the charge noise. The unveiled hybrid magnonics driven away from its equilibrium enriches the utilization of anticrossing for coherent information processing.

Giant spin ensembles in waveguide magnonics

The dipole approximation is usually employed to describe light-matter interactions under ordinary conditions. With the development of artificial atomic systems, 'giant atom' physics is possible, where the scale of atoms is comparable to or even greater than the wavelength of the light they interact with, and the dipole approximation is no longer valid. It reveals interesting physics impossible in small atoms and may offer useful applications. Here, we experimentally demonstrate the giant spin ensemble (GSE), where a ferromagnetic spin ensemble interacts twice with the meandering waveguide, and the coupling strength between them can be continuously tuned from finite (coupled) to zero (decoupled) by varying the frequency. In the nested configuration, we investigate the collective behavior of two GSEs and find extraordinary phenomena that cannot be observed in conventional systems. Our experiment offers a new platform for 'giant atom' physics.

Imaging and phase-locking of non-linear spin waves

Non-linear processes are a key feature in the emerging field of spin-wave based information processing and allow to convert uniform spin-wave excitations into propagating modes at different frequencies. Recently, the existence of non-linear magnons at half-integer multiples of the driving frequency has been predicted for Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ at low bias fields. However, it is an open question under which conditions such non-linear spin waves emerge coherently and how they may be used in device structures. Usually non-linear processes are explored in the small modulation regime and result in the well known three and four magnon scattering processes. Here we demonstrate and image a class of spin waves oscillating at half-integer harmonics that have only recently been proposed for the strong modulation regime. The direct imaging of these parametrically generated magnons in Ni₈₀Fe₂₀ elements allows to visualize their wave vectors. In addition, we demonstrate the presence of two degenerate phase states that may be selected by external phase-locking. These results open new possibilities for applications such as spin-wave sources, amplifiers and phase-encoded information processing with magnons.