Nonreciprocal reconfigurable microwave optomechanical circuit

Bernier, Nathan Rafa�l; Toth, Laszlo Daniel; Koottandavida, A; Ioannou, Marie Adrienne; Malz, D; Nunnenkamp, A; Feofanov, Alexey; Kippenberg, Tobias

Abstract

Nonreciprocal microwave devices are ubiquitous in radar and radio communication and indispensable in the readout chains of superconducting quantum circuits. Since they commonly rely on ferrite materials requiring large magnetic fields that make them bulky and lossy, there has been significant interest in magnetic-field-free on-chip alternatives, such as those recently implemented using the Josephson nonlinearity. Here, we realize reconfigurable nonreciprocal transmission between two microwave modes using purely optomechanical interactions in a superconducting electromechanical circuit. The scheme relies on the interference in two mechanical modes that mediate coupling between the microwave cavities and requires no magnetic field. We analyse the isolation, transmission and the noise properties of this nonreciprocal circuit. Finally, we show how quantum-limited circulators can be realized with the same principle. All-optomechanically mediated nonreciprocity demonstrated here can also be extended to directional amplifiers, and it forms the basis towards realizing topological states of light and sound.

Citation

Bernier, N. R., Toth, L. D., Koottandavida, A., Ioannou, M. A., Malz, D., Nunnenkamp, A., …Kippenberg, T. (2017). Nonreciprocal reconfigurable microwave optomechanical circuit. Nature Communications, 8(1), Article 604. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00447-1

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jun 29, 2017
• Online Publication Date: Sep 19, 2017
• Publication Date: Dec 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Jul 13, 2020
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 14, 2020
• Journal: Nature Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2041-1723
• Publisher: Nature Publishing Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 8
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 604
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-00447-1
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/4765640
• Publisher URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-00447-1