[{"month":"05","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"M-Shop"},{"_id":"NanoFab"},{"_id":"LifeSc"},{"_id":"SSU"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"Atoms and photons, two things so different but yet so alike. The former, the building block of matter, something we learn about in school and imagine it as some tiny marbles encircled by other tinier marbles. The latter, an electromagnetic wave, a light particle or an excitation of the electromagnetic field. Quantum mechanics tells us about the properties of these two entities. And even if it sounds, looks and writes counter-intuitive, it has proven right for over a century now.\r\n\r\nIn this work, I elaborate on how we tested the laws of quantum mechanics and how we used them learn more about the tiny building blocks of nature and the fields they use to talk to each other. The atoms we use, are artificial. Superconducting qubits, small electrical circuits with quantized energy levels behave like electrons that transition between different orbitals in an atom. One of the qubits' advantages, is also a big disadvantage. We design the circuits' energy levels and fabricate them in a cleanroom. This allows for arbitrary spaced energy levels but in contrast to real atoms, prevents two superconducting qubits from being alike. Still, this qubit platform is one of the frontrunners for future quantum computing technology and testing fundamental physics due to their scalability.\r\n\r\nWe interface superconducting qubits, which operate in the GHz regime, with microwave photons. We use 3D aluminum cavities as mediators between qubits and photons. The cavities allow for non-destructive readout of the qubit state, they shield the qubits from noise at the qubit frequency and they give us an easy way to frequency-tune these joint systems.\r\n\r\nWe need to operate superconducting qubits and their cavities at millikelvin temperatures in dilution refrigerators. At higher temperatures, superconductivity suffers and even worse, the environment is filled with thermal noise photons. This poses a fundamental limitation on the scalability of superconducting qubit devices. Also connecting multiple devices in different fridges does not work over room temperature links because the microwave photons used for this purpose will be covered in noise and the quantum information they carry, will be unusable.\r\n\r\nInfrared photons do not suffer from this noise problem since there are close to zero thermal noise photons at their frequencies at room temperature. We cannot simply interface superconducting devices with optical photons due their frequency mismatch and the destructive effect of optical photons on superconductors. Therefore, we use microwave-to-optics transducers that allow to convert microwave photons into optical ones and vice-versa. The transducers that we use are macroscopic electro-optic transducers using the Pockels effect in a disk-shaped Lithium Niobate whispering gallery mode resonator. By using a strong optical pump, photons from the two frequency domains experience a beam-splitter interaction and get converted from one to the other.\r\n\r\nWe measure the generated optical photons using elaborate optical setups, optical heterodyning and single photon detectors to gain knowledge about the qubit state or the converted microwave photons. Bridging the microwave and the optical world allows us to take advantage of both of their strengths but it also requires deep knowledge about both of their working principles.\r\n\r\nIn this work, we describe two experiments that our group conducted to showcase the opportunities that arise from interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons but also the pitfalls, one may encounter on the way.\r\n\r\nIn the first experiment, we managed to all-optically read out a superconducting qubit. We show that the assignment fidelity, the probability that a measurement of the qubit state matches the prepared state, is close to equal for all-optical, microwave-to-optics and conventional microwave readout. We show T1 and T2 measurements for all three readout types and give an analysis of the noise caused by the optics. Finally, we show that the infrared light does not affect the qubit performance in a negative way but that the heating it causes does. This is an important insight that we used in the next experiment.\r\n\r\nThe second experiment is the upconversion of itinerant single microwave photons to the optical domain. We show that we can generate single microwave photons from a qubit-cavity system. We upconvert these single photons, measure them with a single photon detector and reconstruct their shape. By conducting a single photon Rabi measurement, we show correlations between the microwave and the optical domain. And by thorough signal-to-noise measurements and noise analysis, we find that we can generate single infrared photons with high signal-to-noise ratio 5.1 and low transducer added noise (<0.012 quanta). We show that this measurement creates a path towards entanglement of a superconducting qubit and an optical photon and what parameters need to be improved to achieve it. Additionally, this experiment is a proof of principle for an on-demand infrared single photon source. More generally, it allows to link microwave quantum technology in general to the optical domain."}],"date_created":"2026-05-12T09:04:02Z","file_date_updated":"2026-05-15T15:54:06Z","date_published":"2026-05-12T00:00:00Z","year":"2026","oa":1,"acknowledgement":"The author of this work was supported by the European Research Council under grant no.\r\n101089099 (ERC CoG cQEO) and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation\r\nprogram under grant no. 899354 (FETopen SuperQuLAN).\r\nThis work was also supported by the European Research Council under grant nos. 758053\r\n(ERC StG QUNNECT), 101248662 (ERC POC CoupledEOT), and the European Innovation\r\nCouncil no. 101187231 (PathfinderOpen CIELO). This research was funded in whole or in part\r\nby the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) [10.55776/F71]. For open access purposes, the author\r\nhas applied a CC BY public copyright license to any author accepted manuscript version arising\r\nfrom this submission.\r\niii\r\nMy co-authors in the works mentioned later acknowledge generous support from the ISTFELLOW program, the NOMIS-ISTA fellowship, the Horizon Europe Program HORIZONCL4-2022-QUANTUM-01-SGA via Project No. 101113946 OpenSuperQPlus100 and a DOC fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences at IST Austria.\r\n","language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"publication_status":"published","tmp":{"image":"/images/cc_by.png","legal_code_url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode","short":"CC BY (4.0)","name":"Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Public License (CC-BY 4.0)"},"corr_author":"1","author":[{"last_name":"Werner","first_name":"Thomas","id":"1fcd8497-dba3-11ea-a45e-c6fbd715f7c7","orcid":"0009-0001-2346-5236","full_name":"Werner, Thomas"}],"project":[{"grant_number":"101089099","name":"Cavity Quantum Electro Optics: Microwave photonics with nonclassical states","_id":"bdadfa0d-d553-11ed-ba76-fb85edbd456a"},{"name":"Quantum Local Area Networks with Superconducting Qubits","call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"899354","_id":"9B868D20-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A"},{"name":"A Fiber Optic Transceiver for Superconducting Qubits","call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"758053","_id":"26336814-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425"},{"grant_number":"101248662","name":"Integrated optical coupling for low loss electro-optic interconnects","_id":"5b807754-ab3d-11f0-914f-ff8c34502cc9"},{"_id":"91aaf765-16d5-11f0-9cad-a8e7e44cccb7","name":"Cavity-Integrated Electro-Optics: Measuring, Converting and Manipulating Microwaves with Light","grant_number":"101187231"},{"_id":"bdb108fd-d553-11ed-ba76-83dc74a9864f","grant_number":"F07105","name":"QUANTUM INFORMATION SYSTEMS BEYOND CLASSICAL CAPABILITIES / P5- Integration of Superconducting Quantum Circuits"},{"_id":"bdb7cfc1-d553-11ed-ba76-d2eaab167738","name":"Open Superconducting Quantum Computers (OpenSuperQPlus)","grant_number":"101080139"},{"name":"NOMIS Fellowship Program","_id":"9B861AAC-BA93-11EA-9121-9846C619BF3A"}],"day":"12","alternative_title":["ISTA Thesis"],"date_updated":"2026-05-20T13:35:43Z","_id":"21863","title":"Interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons","OA_place":"publisher","supervisor":[{"full_name":"Fink, Johannes M","orcid":"0000-0001-8112-028X","id":"4B591CBA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Johannes M","last_name":"Fink"}],"file":[{"checksum":"a5b4d8dba83f96e955a3625c0eebee98","file_id":"21879","date_updated":"2026-05-15T15:53:57Z","file_name":"2026_Werner_Thomas_Thesis.pdf","access_level":"open_access","relation":"main_file","date_created":"2026-05-15T15:53:57Z","file_size":9330516,"content_type":"application/pdf","creator":"twerner"},{"date_updated":"2026-05-15T15:54:06Z","file_name":"2026_Werner_Thomas_Thesis.zip","file_id":"21880","checksum":"b41282beaacfb32472769b9e3b1758d8","content_type":"application/x-zip-compressed","file_size":9370704,"creator":"twerner","access_level":"closed","date_created":"2026-05-15T15:54:06Z","relation":"source_file"}],"publisher":"Institute of Science and Technology Austria","department":[{"_id":"GradSch"},{"_id":"JoFi"}],"has_accepted_license":"1","citation":{"chicago":"Werner, Thomas. “Interfacing Superconducting Qubits with Optical Photons.” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2026. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863</a>.","ista":"Werner T. 2026. Interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons. Institute of Science and Technology Austria.","short":"T. Werner, Interfacing Superconducting Qubits with Optical Photons, Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2026.","ieee":"T. Werner, “Interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons,” Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2026.","apa":"Werner, T. (2026). <i>Interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863\">https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863</a>","mla":"Werner, Thomas. <i>Interfacing Superconducting Qubits with Optical Photons</i>. Institute of Science and Technology Austria, 2026, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863</a>.","ama":"Werner T. Interfacing superconducting qubits with optical photons. 2026. doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863\">10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863</a>"},"keyword":["Superconducting qubits","Quantum optics","Single photons and quantum effects","Nonlinear optics"],"article_processing_charge":"No","type":"dissertation","degree_awarded":"PhD","ddc":["530","537","539"],"user_id":"8b945eb4-e2f2-11eb-945a-df72226e66a9","oa_version":"Published Version","related_material":{"record":[{"id":"19073","relation":"part_of_dissertation","status":"public"},{"status":"public","id":"21870","relation":"part_of_dissertation"}]},"page":"97","ec_funded":1,"status":"public","doi":"10.15479/AT-ISTA-21863","publication_identifier":{"issn":["2663-337X"]}},{"volume":20,"month":"10","acknowledged_ssus":[{"_id":"NanoFab"}],"abstract":[{"lang":"eng","text":"State-of-the-art transmon qubits rely on large capacitors, which systematically improve their coherence due to reduced surface-loss participation. However, this approach increases both the footprint and the parasitic cross-coupling and is ultimately limited by radiation losses—a potential roadblock for scaling up quantum processors to millions of qubits. In this work we present transmon qubits with sizes as low as 36 × 39 µm2 with  100-nm-wide vacuum-gap capacitors that are micromachined from commercial silicon-on-insulator wafers and shadow evaporated with aluminum. We achieve a vacuum participation ratio up to 99.6% in an in-plane design that is compatible with standard coplanar circuits. Qubit relaxationtime measurements for small gaps with high zero-point electric field variance of up to 22 V/m reveal a double exponential decay indicating comparably strong qubit interaction with long-lived two-level systems. The exceptionally high selectivity of up to 20 dB to the superconductor-vacuum interface allows us to precisely back out the sub-single-photon dielectric loss tangent of aluminum oxide previously exposed to ambient conditions. In terms of future scaling potential, we achieve a ratio of qubit quality factor to a footprint area equal to 20 µm−2, which is comparable with the highest T1 devices relying on larger geometries, a value that could improve substantially for lower surface-loss superconductors. "}],"intvolume":"        20","issue":"4","oa":1,"isi":1,"language":[{"iso":"eng"}],"acknowledgement":"This work was supported by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) through BeyondC (F7105), the European Research Council under Grant Agreement No. 758053 (ERC StG QUNNECT) and a NOMIS foundation research grant. M.Z. was the recipient of a SAIA scholarship, E.R. of\r\na DOC fellowship of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, and M.P. of a Pöttinger scholarship at IST Austria. S.B. acknowledges support from Marie Skłodowska Curie Program No. 707438 (MSC-IF SUPEREOM). J.M.F. acknowledges support from the Horizon Europe Program HORIZON-CL4-2022-QUANTUM-01-SGA via Project No. 101113946 OpenSuperQPlus100 and the ISTA Nanofabrication Facility.","date_created":"2023-11-12T23:00:55Z","date_published":"2023-10-20T00:00:00Z","article_type":"original","year":"2023","author":[{"orcid":"0009-0005-0878-3032","full_name":"Zemlicka, Martin","id":"2DCF8DE6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Martin","last_name":"Zemlicka"},{"id":"2C21D6E8-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Redchenko, Elena","last_name":"Redchenko","first_name":"Elena"},{"last_name":"Peruzzo","first_name":"Matilda","id":"3F920B30-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0002-3415-4628","full_name":"Peruzzo, Matilda"},{"id":"2AED110C-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","orcid":"0000-0001-6937-5773","full_name":"Hassani, Farid","last_name":"Hassani","first_name":"Farid"},{"first_name":"Andrea","last_name":"Trioni","full_name":"Trioni, Andrea","id":"42F71B44-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87"},{"id":"2D25E1F6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","full_name":"Barzanjeh, Shabir","orcid":"0000-0003-0415-1423","last_name":"Barzanjeh","first_name":"Shabir"},{"full_name":"Fink, Johannes M","orcid":"0000-0001-8112-028X","id":"4B591CBA-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","first_name":"Johannes M","last_name":"Fink"}],"publication_status":"published","article_number":"044054","external_id":{"arxiv":["2206.14104"],"isi":["001095315600001"]},"corr_author":"1","project":[{"_id":"26336814-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","call_identifier":"H2020","grant_number":"758053","name":"A Fiber Optic Transceiver for Superconducting Qubits"},{"name":"Protected states of quantum matter","_id":"eb9b30ac-77a9-11ec-83b8-871f581d53d2"},{"_id":"258047B6-B435-11E9-9278-68D0E5697425","name":"Microwave-to-Optical Quantum Link: Quantum Teleportation and Quantum Illumination with cavity Optomechanics","grant_number":"707438","call_identifier":"H2020"},{"name":"Open Superconducting Quantum Computers (OpenSuperQPlus)","grant_number":"101080139","_id":"bdb7cfc1-d553-11ed-ba76-d2eaab167738"},{"name":"QUANTUM INFORMATION SYSTEMS BEYOND CLASSICAL CAPABILITIES / P5- Integration of Superconducting Quantum Circuits","grant_number":"F07105","_id":"bdb108fd-d553-11ed-ba76-83dc74a9864f"}],"date_updated":"2026-06-03T07:16:02Z","day":"20","main_file_link":[{"open_access":"1","url":"https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.14104"}],"publisher":"American Physical Society","department":[{"_id":"JoFi"}],"publication":"Physical Review Applied","citation":{"short":"M. Zemlicka, E. Redchenko, M. Peruzzo, F. Hassani, A. Trioni, S. Barzanjeh, J.M. Fink, Physical Review Applied 20 (2023).","chicago":"Zemlicka, Martin, Elena Redchenko, Matilda Peruzzo, Farid Hassani, Andrea Trioni, Shabir Barzanjeh, and Johannes M Fink. “Compact Vacuum-Gap Transmon Qubits: Selective and Sensitive Probes for Superconductor Surface Losses.” <i>Physical Review Applied</i>. American Physical Society, 2023. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054\">https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054</a>.","ista":"Zemlicka M, Redchenko E, Peruzzo M, Hassani F, Trioni A, Barzanjeh S, Fink JM. 2023. Compact vacuum-gap transmon qubits: Selective and sensitive probes for superconductor surface losses. Physical Review Applied. 20(4), 044054.","ama":"Zemlicka M, Redchenko E, Peruzzo M, et al. Compact vacuum-gap transmon qubits: Selective and sensitive probes for superconductor surface losses. <i>Physical Review Applied</i>. 2023;20(4). doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054\">10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054</a>","ieee":"M. Zemlicka <i>et al.</i>, “Compact vacuum-gap transmon qubits: Selective and sensitive probes for superconductor surface losses,” <i>Physical Review Applied</i>, vol. 20, no. 4. American Physical Society, 2023.","mla":"Zemlicka, Martin, et al. “Compact Vacuum-Gap Transmon Qubits: Selective and Sensitive Probes for Superconductor Surface Losses.” <i>Physical Review Applied</i>, vol. 20, no. 4, 044054, American Physical Society, 2023, doi:<a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054\">10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054</a>.","apa":"Zemlicka, M., Redchenko, E., Peruzzo, M., Hassani, F., Trioni, A., Barzanjeh, S., &#38; Fink, J. M. (2023). Compact vacuum-gap transmon qubits: Selective and sensitive probes for superconductor surface losses. <i>Physical Review Applied</i>. American Physical Society. <a href=\"https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054\">https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054</a>"},"_id":"14517","title":"Compact vacuum-gap transmon qubits: Selective and sensitive probes for superconductor surface losses","article_processing_charge":"No","arxiv":1,"type":"journal_article","ec_funded":1,"status":"public","publication_identifier":{"eissn":["2331-7019"]},"doi":"10.1103/PhysRevApplied.20.044054","quality_controlled":"1","user_id":"2DF688A6-F248-11E8-B48F-1D18A9856A87","oa_version":"Preprint","scopus_import":"1","related_material":{"record":[{"status":"public","id":"14520","relation":"research_data"}]}}]