No Arabic abstract
Directional transport is obtained in various multimode systems by driving multiple, nonreciprocally-interfering interactions between individual bosonic modes. However, systems sustaining the required number of modes become physically complex. In our microwave-optomechanical experiment, we show how to configure nonreciprocal transport between frequency components of a single superconducting cavity coupled to two drumhead oscillators. The frequency components are promoted to Floquet modes and generate the missing dimension to realize an isolator and a directional amplifier. A second cavity left free by this arrangement is used to cool the mechanical oscillators and bring the transduction noise close to the quantum limit. We furthermore uncover a new type of instability specific to nonreciprocal coupling. Our approach is generic and can greatly simplify quantum signal processing and the design of topological lattices from low-dimensional systems.
We show how quantized transport can be realized in Floquet chains through encapsulation of a chiral or helical shift. The resulting transport is immutable rather than topological in the sense that it neither requires a band gap nor is affected by arbitrarily strong perturbations. Transport is still characterized by topological quantities but encapsulation of the shift prevents topological phase transitions. To explore immutable transport we introduce the concept of a shiftbox, explain the relevant topological quantities both for momentum-space dispersions and real-space transport, and study model systems of Floquet chains with strictly quantized chiral and helical transport. Natural platforms for the experimental investigation of these scenarios are photonic Floquet chains constructed in waveguide arrays, as well as topolectrical or mechanical systems.
Coupling electromagnetic waves in a cavity and mechanical vibrations via the radiation pressure of the photons [1,2] is a promising platform for investigations of quantum mechanical properties of motion of macroscopic bodies and thereby the limits of quantum mechanics [3,4]. A drawback is that the effect of one photon tends to be tiny, and hence one of the pressing challenges is to substantially increase the interaction strength towards the scale of the cavity damping rate. A novel scenario is to introduce into the setup a quantum two-level system (qubit), which, besides strengthening the coupling, allows for rich physics via strongly enhanced nonlinearities [5-8]. Addressing these issues, here we present a design of cavity optomechanics in the microwave frequency regime involving a Josephson junction qubit. We demonstrate boosting of the radiation pressure interaction energy by six orders of magnitude, allowing to approach the strong coupling regime, where a single quantum of vibrations shifts the cavity frequency by more than its linewidth. We observe nonlinear phenomena at single-photon energies, such as an enhanced damping due to the two-level system. This work opens up nonlinear cavity optomechanics as a plausible tool for the study of quantum properties of motion.
We show that non-Hermiticity enables topological phases with unidirectional transport in one-dimensional Floquet chains. The topological signatures of these phases are non-contractible loops in the spectrum of the Floquet propagator that are separated by an imaginary gap. Such loops occur exclusively in non-Hermitian Floquet systems. We define the corresponding topological invariant as the winding number of the Floquet propagator relative to the imaginary gap. To relate topology to transport, we introduce the concept of regularized dynamics of non-Hermitian chains. We establish that, under the conditions of regularized dynamics, transport is quantized in so far as the charge transferred over one period equals the topological winding number. We illustrate these theoretical findings with the example of a Floquet chain that features a topological phase transition and acts as a charge pump in the non-trivial topological phase. We finally discuss whether these findings justify the notion that non-Hermitian Floquet chains support topological transport.
We propose how to achieve synthetic $mathcal{PT}$ symmetry in optomechanics without using any active medium. We find that harnessing the Stokes process in such a system can lead to the emergence of exceptional point (EP), i.e., the coalescing of both the eigenvalues and the eigenvectors of the system. By encircling the EP,non-reciprocal optical amplification and chiral mode switching can be achieved. This provides a surprisingly simplified route to realize $mathcal{PT}$-symmetric optomechanics, indicating that a wide range of EP devices can be created and utilized for various applications such as topological optical engineering and nanomechanical processing or sensing.
We propose a scheme involving a Cooper pair transistor (CPT) embedded in a superconducting microwave cavity, where the CPT serves as a charge tunable quantum inductor to facilitate ultra-strong coupling between photons in the cavity and a nano- to meso-scale mechanical resonator. The mechanical resonator is capacitively coupled to the CPT, such that mechanical displacements of the resonator cause a shift in the CPT inductance and hence the cavitys resonant frequency. The amplification provided by the CPT is sufficient for the zero point motion of the mechanical resonator alone to cause a significant change in the cavity resonance. Conversely, a single photon in the cavity causes a shift in the mechanical resonator position on the order of its zero point motion. As a result, the cavity-Cooper pair transistor (cCPT) coupled to a mechanical resonator will be able to access a regime in which single photons can affect single phonons and vice versa. Realizing this ultra-strong coupling regime will facilitate the creation of non-classical states of the mechanical resonator, as well as the means to accurately characterize such states by measuring the cavity photon field.