Microwave-to-optical conversion in a room-temperature $^{87}$Rb vapor with frequency-division multiplexing control

Abstract

Coherent microwave-to-optical conversion is crucial for transferring quantum information generated in the microwave domain to optical frequencies, where propagation losses can be minimised. Among the various physical platforms that have realized coherent microwave-to-optical transduction, those that use atoms as transducers have shown rapid progress in recent years. In this paper we report an experimental demonstration of coherent microwave-to-optical conversion that maps a microwave signal to a large, tunable 550(30) MHz range of optical frequencies using room-temperature $^{87}$Rb atoms. The inhomogeneous Doppler broadening of the atomic vapor advantageously supports the tunability of an input microwave channel to any optical frequency channel within the Doppler width, along with simultaneous conversion of a multi-channel input microwave field to corresponding optical channels. In addition, we demonstrate phase-correlated amplitude control of select channels, resulting in complete extinction of one of the channels, providing an analog to a frequency domain beam splitter across five orders of magnitude in frequency. With frequency-division multiplexing capability, multi-channel conversion, and amplitude control of frequency channels, neutral atomic systems may be effective quantum processors for quantum information encoded in frequency-bin qubits.