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All quantum systems are connected to their environment, and this reduces their quantumness through decoherence. Here, the authors show that the interaction between a macroscale quantum system—a micromechanical oscillator—and its environment leads to non-Markovian Brownian motion

Optomechanical crystals are promising building blocks for quantum networks but suffer from thermal mechanical noise. Here the authors demonstrate on-demand conversion of single phonons into high-purity telecom photons with low thermal noise and MHz-scale narrow bandwidth using a quasi-2D optomechanical system.

Superconducting qubits are measured using microwaves, posing constraints on its size and thermal budgets. The electro-optic transceiver presented here can be used to perform optical readout without affecting qubit performance.

Non-classical vibrations are generated and transmitted along a mechanical waveguide, providing a platform for distributing quantum information and realizing hybrid quantum devices using phonons in a solid-state system.

Non-classically correlated pairs of single photons and phonons are generated and read out from a nanomechanical resonator, demonstrating that such resonators could be used for light–matter quantum interfaces.

Quantum teleportation of a photonic qubit into mechanical modes of two silicon photonic crystal nanobeams is demonstrated. It allows to store and retrieve an arbitrary qubit state onto a dual-rail encoded long-lived optomechanical quantum memory.

Remote quantum entanglement is demonstrated in a micromachined solid-state system comprising two optomechanical oscillators across two chips physically separated by 20 cm and with an optical separation of around 70 m.

A silicon nanometre-scale mechanical resonator, patterned to couple optical and mechanical resonances, is found to emit photons when optically pumped; photon emission corresponds directly to phonon emission, enabling the phonons to be counted.

Dissipative optomechanics, once limited to low frequencies, now operates in a sideband-resolved regime, reshaping optical and mechanical spectra and paving the way for the individual addressing of different mechanical modes in a single device.

Operating macroscopic mechanical resonators in the quantum regime has recently attracted significant interest. Here, the authors demonstrate ground-state cooling of a nanostring mechanical resonator via measurement-based feedback, reaching 0.76 average phonon occupation starting from liquid helium temperature, and 3.5 when starting from liquid nitrogen.

Coherently interfacing microwave and optical radiation at the single photon level is an outstanding challenge in quantum technologies. Here, the authors show bi-directional on-chip conversion between MW and optical frequencies exploiting piezoelectric actuation of a gallium phosphide optomechanical resonator.

By exploiting the long-lived phonon modes in nanoscale mechanical resonators, a quantum memory that operates around the standard telecom wavelength of 1,550 nm is realized on a silicon platform.

Multilayer structures integrating a photonic crystal cavity and a mechanical resonator with a high-Q_M out-of-plane mode are fabricated, exhibiting high optomechanical coupling.

Electro-optomechanical conversion between optical and microwave photons is achieved with minimal added noise by cooling the mechanical oscillator to its quantum ground state. This has potential for future coherence-preserving transduction.

Experiments where a tiny mirror, a mechanical microresonator, within an optical cavity undergoes 'self-cooling' is detailed. Under the right, finely tuned conditions, the thermal vibration of the mirror freezes out without outside influence. It cools down by a factor of 30, from room temperature to about 10 kelvin.

Interaction with light can be used to precisely control motional states. This Review surveys recent progress in the preparation of non-classical mechanical states and in the application of optomechanical platforms to specific tasks in quantum technology.