Coupling Rydberg atoms to a superconducting millimeter-wave resonator: quantum transduction and progress towards spin-squeezing

High quality factors of superconducting resonators and strong atomic transitions in the millimeter-wave and microwave regime can enable strong interactions in a neutral atom cavity-QED system. Our platform features a unique 3D superconducting millimeter-wave resonator at 5 K intersecting with an optical Fabry-Perot cavity, allowing for atoms at the intersection to interact with both cavities simultaneously. Harnessing the strengths of our system, we recently demonstrated quantum transduction between mm-wave photons and optical photons using Rydberg atoms. The interactions between the mm-wave cavity and atoms can also enable spin-squeezing on the ground-Rydberg transition, with potential applications for entanglement-enhanced quantum sensing and metrology. In the talk, I will describe our platform and present recent transduction results from the experiment. I will also discuss our efforts towards spin squeezing, including our plans to upgrade to colder resonator temperatures for stronger atom-cavity coupling.