Spin-optomechanical cavity interfaces by deep subwavelength phonon-photon confinement

Abstract A central goal of quantum information science is transferring qubits between space, time, and modality. Spin-based systems in solids are promising quantum memories, but high-fidelity transfer of their quantum states to telecom optical fields remains challenging. Here, we introduce a phonon-...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Hamza Raniwala, Pratyush Anand, Stefan Krastanov, Matt Eichenfield, Matthew Trusheim, Dirk R. Englund
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-07-01
Series:npj Quantum Information
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41534-025-00999-x
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Summary:Abstract A central goal of quantum information science is transferring qubits between space, time, and modality. Spin-based systems in solids are promising quantum memories, but high-fidelity transfer of their quantum states to telecom optical fields remains challenging. Here, we introduce a phonon-mediated interface between spins in a diamond nanobeam optomechanical crystal and telecom optical fields by a simultaneous deep-subwavelength confinement of optical and acoustic fields with mode volumes $${V}_{{\rm{mech}}}/{\Lambda }_{{\rm{p}}}^{3} \sim 1{0}^{-5}$$ V mech / Λ p 3 ~ 1 0 − 5 and V opt/λ 3 ~ 10−3, respectively. This confinement boosts the spin-mechanical coupling rate of Group-IV silicon vacancy (SiV−) centers by an order of magnitude to ~ 32 MHz while retaining high acousto-optical couplings. The optical cavity couples to the spin irrespective of the emitter’s native excited states, avoiding spectral diffusion. Using Quantum Monte Carlo simulations, we estimate heralded entanglement fidelities exceeding 0.96 between two such interfaces. We anticipate broad utility beyond diamond emitter-telecom systems to most solid-state quantum memories.
ISSN:2056-6387