Abstract
Electronic devices that use acoustic vibrations are of use in classical and quantum technologies. Such devices rely on transducers to exchange signals between electrical and acoustic networks. The transducers are typically based on piezoelectricity. However, conventional piezoelectric transducers are limited to either small efficiencies or narrow bandwidths, and usually operate at a fixed frequency. Here we report piezoelectric microwave–acoustic transduction operating close to the maximal efficiency–bandwidth product of lithium niobate. We use superconducting quantum interference device arrays to transform the large complex impedance of wideband interdigital transducers into 50 Ω. We demonstrate an efficiency–bandwidth product of around 440 MHz, with a maximum efficiency of 62% at 5.7 GHz. We use the flux dependence of superconducting quantum interference devices to create transducers with in situ tunability across nearly an octave at around 5.5 GHz. Our transducers can be connected to other superconducting quantum devices and could be of use in applications such as microwave-to-optics conversion, quantum-limited phonon detection, acoustic spectroscopy and fast acoustic coherent control in the 4–8-GHz band.
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Data availability
The data supporting the findings of this paper are available from the corresponding authors upon request.
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Acknowledgements
We thank N. Roch and L. Planat for inputs on the nanofabrication technique of bridge-free Josephson junction arrays. The samples were fabricated in the cleanroom facility of the Néel Institute (Grenoble) and we thank all the cleanroom staff for their assistance. We acknowledge L. Del-Rey, J. Jarreau and D. Dufeu for their help in the installation and maintenance of the cryogenic setup. We thank A. Reinhardt, W. Wernsdorfer, T. Courtial, M. Tomasian and all the members of the superconducting quantum circuits group at the Néel Institute for discussions. This work was supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) through the MagMech project (ANR-20-CE47-0004-01). Q.A.G. acknowledges financial support from the ANR agency under the France 2030 plan with reference ANR-22-PETQ-0003.
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A.H. and J.J.V. designed the experiment. A.H. fabricated the devices with inputs and support from G.J. A.H. realized the measurements and performed the data analysis with the help of Q.A.G. and J.J.V. E.E. provided support with the cryogenics of the experiment. F.B. and J.J.V. supervised the project. A.H. and J.J.V. wrote the manuscript with inputs from all authors.
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Extended data
Extended Data Fig. 1 Power dependence of the transduction efficiency \({| {{\bf{S}}}_{{\bf{a\mu }}}| }^{{\bf{2}}}\) of a unidirectional IDT.
This data is plotted for the same device as the main text (Fig. 3). The inset shows the peak transduction efficiency Max ∣Saμ∣2 achieved at each input microwave power.
Extended Data Fig. 2 False color SEM micrographs of the devices.
a, Two bi-directional IDTs arranged in a delay-line geometry, zoomed-out view of Fig. 1b of the main text. Same for single mode IDTs (b) and unidirectional IDTs (c). d, A single unidirectional IDT is used to couple to an acoustic resonator. GND denotes electrical ground and CPW denotes coplanar waveguide.
Extended Data Fig. 3 Cryogenic microwave measurement setup.
Various devices under test (DUT) are placed on the mixing chamber stage (MC) of the refrigerator and microwave calibration is performed using a single pull, six throw switch (SP6T).
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Supplementary sections I–VI, Supplementary Figs. 1–5, Supplementary Tables 1 and 2 and Supplementary Discussion.
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Hugot, A., Greffe, Q.A., Julie, G. et al. Approaching optimal microwave–acoustic transduction on lithium niobate using superconducting quantum interference device arrays. Nat Electron (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-025-01548-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-025-01548-2
