Using dark modes for high-fidelity optomechanical quantum state transfer

TL;DR

This paper introduces a hybrid optomechanical state transfer scheme combining dark mode protection and fast double-swap operations, enhancing fidelity without requiring initial mechanical ground state preparation.

Contribution

A new hybrid transfer scheme that merges dark mode protection with rapid double-swap operations, improving fidelity and robustness in optomechanical quantum state transfer.

Findings

The hybrid scheme offers high fidelity transfer without initial mechanical ground state.

Interference effects are related to optomechanical EIT phenomena.

Phase diagram shows optimal transfer schemes across parameter space.

Abstract

In a recent publication [Y.D. Wang and A.A. Clerk, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 153603 (2012)], we demonstrated that one can use interference to significantly increase the fidelity of state transfer between two electromagnetic cavities coupled to a common mechanical resonator over a naive sequential-transfer scheme based on two swap operations. This involved making use of a delocalized electromagnetic mode which is decoupled from the mechanical resonator, a so-called "mechanically-dark" mode. Here, we demonstrate the existence of a new "hybrid" state transfer scheme which incorporates the best elements of the dark-mode scheme (protection against mechanical dissipation) and the double-swap scheme (fast operation time). Importantly, this new scheme also does not require the mechanical resonator to be prepared initially in its ground state. We also provide additional details on the previously-described interference-enhanced transfer schemes, and provide an enhanced discussion of how the interference physics here is intimately related to the optomechanical analogue of electromagnetically-induced transparency (EIT). We also compare the various transfer schemes over a wide range of relevant experimental parameters, producing a "phase diagram" showing the the optimal transfer scheme for different points in parameter space.