The demonstration of a quantum link between microwave and optical frequencies would be an important step toward the realization of a quantum network of superconducting processors. A major impediment to quantum electro-optic transduction in all platforms explored to date is noise added by thermal occupation of modes involved in the transduction process, and it has proved difficult to realize low thermal occupancy concurrently with other desirable features like high duty cycle and high efficiency. In this work, we present an efficient and continuously operating electro-optomechanical transducer whose mechanical mode has been optically sideband cooled to its quantum ground state. The transducer achieves a maximum efficiency of 47% and minimum input-referred added noise of 3.2 photons in upconversion. Moreover, the thermal occupancy of the transducer’s microwave mode is minimally affected by continuous laser illumination with power more than 2 orders of magnitude greater than that required for optomechanical ground-state cooling.

中文翻译：

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连续高效电光传感器中的光机基态冷却

展示微波和光频率之间的量子链接将是实现超导处理器量子网络的重要一步。迄今为止探索的所有平台中量子电光转换的一个主要障碍是由转换过程中涉及的模式的热占用所增加的噪声，并且已证明难以同时实现低热占用与其他理想特性，如高占空比和高效率。在这项工作中，我们提出了一种高效且连续运行的机电换能器，其机械模式已被光学边带冷却至其量子基态。该换能器在上转换中实现了 47% 的最大效率和 3.2 个光子的最小输入参考附加噪声。而且，