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A mechanical quantum memory for microwave photons

Nature Physics volume 21, pages 1469–1474 (2025)Cite this article

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Abstract

Superconducting qubits possess outstanding capabilities for processing quantum information in the microwave domain; however they have limited coherence times. An interface between photons and phonons could allow quantum information to be stored in long-lived mechanical oscillators. Here, we introduce a platform that relies on electrostatic forces in nanoscale structures to achieve strong coupling between a superconducting qubit and a nanomechanical oscillator with an energy decay time (T1) of approximately 25 ms, well beyond those achieved in integrated superconducting circuits. We use quantum operations in this system to investigate the microscopic origins of mechanical decoherence and mitigate its impact. By using two-pulse dynamical decoupling sequences, we can extend the coherence time (T2) from 64 μs to 1 ms. These findings establish that mechanical oscillators can act as quantum memories for superconducting devices, with potential future applications in quantum computing, sensing and transduction.

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Fig. 1: Experimental set-up.
Fig. 2: Coherent qubit–oscillator interaction.
Fig. 3: Quantum state preparation and tomography.
Fig. 4: Mechanical lifetime.
Fig. 5: Mitigating mechanical dephasing.

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Data availability

The source data used to generate the plots in the paper are available via Zenodo at https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15069397 (ref. 68). Other datasets produced or examined in this study can be obtained from the corresponding author (M.M.) upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge O. Painter, M. Kalaee, H. Zhao, C. Joshi, F. Yang, P. Shah and W. Chen for helpful discussions. This work was supported by the AFOSR (Award No. FA9550-23-1-0062) and the NSF (Award Nos. 2137776 and 2238058). A.B.B. gratefully acknowledges support from the Eddleman Graduate Fellowship. H.T. gratefully acknowledges support from an IQIM Postdoctoral Fellowship.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Alkım B. Bozkurt, Omid Golami.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Gordon and Betty Moore Laboratory of Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Alkım B. Bozkurt, Omid Golami, Yue Yu, Hao Tian & Mohammad Mirhosseini

  2. Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA

    Alkım B. Bozkurt, Omid Golami, Hao Tian & Mohammad Mirhosseini

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  1. Alkım B. Bozkurt
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Contributions

M.M., A.B.B. and O.G. conceived and designed the experiment. Y.Y. performed the numerical optimization of the devices. A.B.B., O.G. and H.T. fabricated the devices. A.B.B., O.G. and M.M. conducted the measurements and analysed the data. A.B.B., O.G. and M.M. wrote the paper with input from all authors. M.M. supervised the project.

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Correspondence to Mohammad Mirhosseini.

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M.M., A.B.B. and O.G. acknowledge a provisional patent application that draws on the work described in this manuscript. The other authors declare no competing interests.

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Nature Physics thanks Gary Steele, Marius Villiers and the other, anonymous, reviewer(s) for their contribution to the peer review of this work.

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Extended data

Extended Data Table 1 Summary of device parameters
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Supplementary Information

Supplementary Sections A–K, Figs. 1–16 and Table 1.

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Bozkurt, A.B., Golami, O., Yu, Y. et al. A mechanical quantum memory for microwave photons. Nat. Phys. 21, 1469–1474 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-025-02975-w

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