Direct Digital-to-Physical Synthesis: From mmWave Transmitter to Qubit Control

TL;DR

This paper explores a unified digital-to-physical waveform synthesis approach applicable to both millimeter-wave communication transmitters and quantum qubit controllers, emphasizing architecture trade-offs and cross-domain innovations.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of direct-digital modulation architectures and highlights their potential to accelerate advancements in both RF communication and quantum control.

Findings

Unified analysis of digital modulation architectures

Trade-offs in energy efficiency and signal integrity

Cross-domain architectural innovations

Abstract

The increasing demand for high-speed wireless connectivity and scalable quantum information processing has driven parallel advancements in millimeter-wave (MMW) communication transmitters and cryogenic qubit controllers. Despite serving different applications, both systems rely on the precise generation of radio frequency (RF) waveforms with stringent requirements on spectral purity, timing, and amplitude control. Recent architecture eliminates conventional methods by embedding digital signal generation and processing directly into the RF path, transforming digital bits into physical waveforms for either electromagnetic transmission or quantum state control. This article presents a unified analysis of direct-digital modulation techniques across both domains, showing the synergy and similarities between these two domains. The article also focuses on four core architectures: Cartesian I/Q, Polar, RF- Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC), and harmonic/subharmonic modulation across both domains. We analyze their respective trade-offs in energy efficiency, signal integrity, waveform synthesis, error mitigations, and highlight how architectural innovations in one domain can accelerate progress in the other