Speaker: Johannes Fink, IST Austria.
The rapid development of superconducting quantum hardware is expected to run into significant I/O restrictions due to the need for large-scale error correction in a cryogenic environment. Photonics could be the key not only to realize optical multiplexing of many control and readout lines, but also for distributed quantum computing with modules of manageable size. We have developed an electro-optic interconnect that facilitates strong interactions between microwaves and telecom wavelength light. While its working principle is based on the electro-optic nonlinearity, the physics is in direct analogy to the interaction between phonons and light in cavity optomechanics. This device operates close to the quantum limit and offers new perspectives for a number of scaling, networking and sensing applications. We demonstrate ultra-low noise wavelength conversion, entanglement of microwave and optical fields, as well as a fiber-based, all-optical and single-shot superconducting qubit readout that does not require any cryogenic microwave components like filters, attenuators or circulators.