{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"The New Quantum Era - innovation in quantum computing, science and technology","title":"Mechanical Quantum Memories with Mohammad Mirhosseini","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":2271,"description":"Assistant Professor Mohammad Mirhosseini (Caltech EE/APh) explains how his group built a mechanical quantum memory that stores microwave-photon quantum states far longer than typical superconducting qubits, and why that matters for hybrid quantum architectures. The discussion covers microwave photons, phonons, optomechanics, coherence versus lifetime (T2 vs. T1), current speed bottlenecks, and implications for quantum transduction and error mechanisms. The discussion centers on a paper from Mirhosseini's paper from December of 2024 titled, “A mechanical quantum memory for microwave photons,” detailing strong coupling between a transmon and a long‑lived nanomechanical oscillator for storage and retrieval of nonclassical states.GuestMohammad Mirhosseini is an Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering and Applied Physics at Caltech, where his group engineers hybrid superconducting–phononic–photonic systems at millikelvin temperatures for computing, communication, and sensing. He completed his PhD at the University of Rochester’s Institute of Optics and was a postdoc in Oscar Painter’s group at Caltech before starting his lab. His recent team effort demonstrates mechanical oscillators as compact, long‑lived quantum memories integrated with superconducting circuits.Key topicsWhat “microwave photons” are and how qubits emit/absorb single microwave photons in circuit QED analogously to atoms and optical photons.Why “memory” is missing in today’s quantum processors and how a dedicated long‑lived storage element can complement fast but dissipative superconducting qubits.Optomechanics 101: mapping quantum states between electrical and mechanical degrees of freedom, with phonons as the quantized vibrational excitations.T1 vs. T2: demonstrated order‑of‑magnitude gains in lifetime (T1) and more modest current gains in coherence (T2), plus paths to mitigate dephasing.Present bottleneck: state conversion between qubit and oscillator is about 100× slower than native...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0bJ0_ffy0r0O2l32QT5Tn9-3l9jtqpUcMVwNZnZXwRM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yZmZl/YmRlZTAxNDY3MWJk/NmI2MGVkMGMxYmFh/MTM2Mi5wbmc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}