Hodaka Kurokawa

Understanding the optical response of a superconducting microwave resonator is crucial for applications ranging from single-photon detection to quantum transduction between the microwave and optical domains. This topic is gaining significant attention for scaling up quantum computers. However, interactions between the pump light and superconducting resonators often induce unintended resonance frequency shifts and linewidth broadening. In this study, we measure the local optical response of a NbTiN nanowire resonator using a laser-scanning microwave spectroscopy system integrated with a dilution refrigerator. The optical response of the resonator correlates with the resonance modes and position, which we attribute to interactions between two-level systems (TLSs) and laser-induced phonons. These findings establish the TLS-phonon interactions as the dominant mechanism underlying laser-induced resonance variations, providing critical insights for the design and optimization of quantum transducers and superconducting single-photon detectors.

A neutral nitrogen-vacancy center ( NV 0 ) is promising for realizing strong coupling with a single microwave photon due to its large electric field sensitivity, although it is susceptible to environmental phonon noise at 5 K. Decreasing the temperature to 15 mK results in a tenfold increase in orbital relaxation time compared to that at 5 K. Dynamical decoupling pulses significantly increase the orbital coherence time to more than 1.6 μ s , representing a 30-fold improvement compared to that without decoupling pulses. Based on these results, a single NV 0 can reach the strong coupling regime when coupled with a high-impedance microwave resonator, thus opening up the possibility of microwave quantum electrodynamics using a single optically active defect center in diamond.

The coherent control of the orbital state is crucial for realizing the extremely-low power manipulation of the color centers in diamonds. Herein, a neutrally-charged nitrogen-vacancy center, NV⁰, is proposed as an ideal system for orbital control using electric fields. The electric susceptibility in the ground state of NV⁰ is estimated, and found to be comparable to that in the excited state of NV⁻. Also, the coherent control of the orbital states of NV⁰ is demonstrated. The required power for orbital control is three orders of magnitude smaller than that for spin control, highlighting the potential for interfacing a superconducting qubit operated in a dilution refrigerator.

The coherent control of the orbital state is crucial for color centers in diamonds for realizing extremely low-power manipulation. Here, we propose the neutrally charged nitrogen-vacancy center, NV$^0$, as an ideal system for orbital control through electric fields. We estimate electric susceptibility in the ground state of NV$^0$ to be comparable to that in the excited state of NV$^-$. Also, we demonstrate coherent control of the orbital states of NV$^0$. The required power for orbital control is three orders of magnitude smaller than that for spin control, highlighting the potential for interfacing a superconducting qubit operated in a dilution refrigerator.

Phonons confined in mechanical resonators can be coupled to a variety of quantum systems and are expected to be applied to hybrid quantum systems. Diamond surface acoustic wave (SAW) devices are capable of high efficiency in phonon interaction with color centers in diamond. The temperature dependence of the quality factor is crucial for inferring the governing mechanism of coupling efficiency between phonons and color centers in diamond. In this paper, we report on the temperature dependence of the quality factor of an AlN/diamond SAW device from room temperature to 5 K. The temperature dependence of the quality factor and resonant frequency suggests that the mechanism of SAW dissipation in the AlN/diamond SAW resonator at 5 GHz is the phonon–phonon scattering in the Akheiser regime and that further cooling can be expected to improve the quality factor. This result provides a crucial guideline for the future design of AlN/diamond SAW devices.

Quantum communication between remote superconducting systems is being studied intensively to increase the number of integrated superconducting qubits and to realize a distributed quantum computer. Since optical photons must be used for communication outside a dilution refrigerator, the direct conversion of microwave photons to optical photons has been widely investigated. However, the direct conversion approach suffers from added photon noise, heating due to a strong optical pump, and the requirement for large cooperativity. Instead, for quantum communication between superconducting qubits, we propose an entanglement distribution scheme using a solid-state spin quantum memory that works as an interface for both microwave and optical photons. The quantum memory enables quantum communication without significant heating inside the refrigerator, in contrast to schemes using high-power optical pumps. Moreover, introducing the quantum memory naturally makes it possible to herald entanglement and parallelization using multiple memories.

Quantum communication between remote superconducting systems is being studied intensively to increase the number of integrated superconducting qubits and to realize a distributed quantum computer. Since optical photons must be used for communication outside a dilution refrigerator, the direct conversion of microwave photons to optical photons has been widely investigated. However, the direct conversion approach suffers from added photon noise, heating due to a strong optical pump, and the requirement for large cooperativity. Instead, for quantum communication between superconducting qubits, we propose an entanglement distribution scheme using a solid-state spin quantum memory that works as an interface for both microwave and optical photons. The quantum memory enables quantum communication without significant heating inside the refrigerator, in contrast to schemes using high-power optical pumps. Moreover, introducing the quantum memory naturally makes it possible to herald entanglement and parallelization using multiple memories.