Quantum Optics Seminar: Dr. Clinton Potts, TU Delft

Photon-Pressure in the Single-Photon Strong Coupling Regime

Radiation pressure coupling between two harmonic oscillators has enabled exquisite measurement precision and control of mechanical oscillators in optomechanics experiments. In such experiments, the optomechanical coupling is quantified by the optical mode's frequency shift due to the mechanical oscillator's zero-point fluctuations, defined by the single-photon coupling rate g0. Typically, this value is orders of magnitude smaller than the characteristic decay rates of the system. In this letter, we demonstrate, for the first time, single-photon strong photon-pressure coupling between a superconducting transmon qubit and a linear microwave oscillator, the microwave equivalent to the radiation-pressure interaction. In our system, the single-photon coupling rate is larger than all decay rates by an order of magnitude. Demonstrating single-photon strong coupling has been long desired and will enable non-linear interaction at the single-photon level. In future work, the photon-pressure qubit may be used for exotic tests of quantum gravity by coupling to linear optomechanical systems or for developing novel quantum information processing hardware.