High-Performance Quantum Transduction with Correlated Noise

Abstract

Quantum transduction, which coherently converts quantum states between microwave and optical frequency domains, is a key technology for hybrid quantum architectures. Its performance, however, is fundamentally limited by thermal noise. Direct quantum transduction is particularly susceptible to noise and often fails to achieve positive quantum capacity. Entanglement-based quantum transduction, which realizes state conversion through quantum teleportation assisted by microwave-optical entanglement, is intrinsically more robust against thermal noise. However, generating sufficiently strong entanglement in a realistic thermal environment remains a major challenge. In this paper, we exploit correlated noise as a resource for quantum transduction. For direct quantum transduction, it is shown that the noise correlations give rise to controllable interference terms that substantially suppress the effective channel noise. For entanglement-based quantum transduction, the same correlations enhance the generation of microwave-optical entanglement, thereby improving the fidelity of teleportation-based conversion. As a result, both transduction protocols exhibit broad regions of positive quantum capacity over experimentally relevant ranges of cooperativity. We further discuss a possible physical mechanism for engineering the required noise correlations, providing theoretical guidance for experimental implementations. These results suggest that correlated noise can substantially relax the stringent cryogenic requirements for microwave-optical quantum transduction and facilitate the realization of practical hybrid quantum networks.