High photon-phonon pair generation rate in a two-dimensional optomechanical crystal

Mayor, Felix M.; Malik, Sultan; Primo, André G.; Gyger, Samuel; Jiang, Wentao; Alegre, Thiago P. M.; Safavi-Naeini, Amir H.

doi:10.1038/s41467-025-57948-7

High photon-phonon pair generation rate in a two-dimensional optomechanical crystal

Journal Article · Sat Mar 15 00:00:00 EDT 2025 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-025-57948-7· OSTI ID:2575488

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Stanford Univ., CA (United States)
Stanford Univ., CA (United States); Univ. of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo (Brazil)
Univ. of Campinas (UNICAMP), Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Integrated optomechanical systems are a leading platform for manipulating, sensing, and distributing quantum information, but are limited by residual optical heating. Here, we demonstrate a two-dimensional optomechanical crystal (OMC) geometry with increased thermal anchoring and a mechanical mode at 7.4 GHz, well aligned with the operation range of cryogenic microwave hardware and piezoelectric transducers. The eight times better thermalization than current one-dimensional OMCs, large optomechanical coupling rates, g₀/2π ≈ 880 kHz, and high optical quality factors, Q_opt = 2.4 × 10⁵, allow ground-state cooling (n_m = 0.32) of the acoustic mode from 3 K and entering the optomechanical strong-coupling regime. In pulsed sideband asymmetry measurements, we show ground-state operation (n_m < 0.45) at temperatures below 10 mK, with repetition rates up to 3 MHz, generating photon-phonon pairs at ≈ 147 kHz. Our results extend optomechanical system capabilities and establish a robust foundation for future microwave-to-optical transducers with entanglement rates exceeding state-of-the-art superconducting qubit decoherence rates.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), Menlo Park, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC); US Army Research Office (ARO); National Science Foundation (NSF); São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP); Knut and Alice Wallenberg foundation

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 2575488

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 16; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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