Doppler-induced tunable and shape-preserving frequency conversion of microwave wave packets
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2603.12436 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 12 Mar 2026] Title:Doppler-induced tunable and shape-preserving frequency conversion of microwave wave packets Authors:Felix Ahrens, Enrico Bogoni, Renato Mezzena, Andrea Vinante, Nicolò Crescini, Alessandro Irace, Andrea Giachero, Gianluca Rastelli, Iacopo Carusotto, Federica Mantegazzini View a PDF of the paper titled Doppler-induced tunable and shape-preserving frequency conversion of microwave wave packets, by Felix Ahrens and 9 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:In superconducting electronics, the ability to control the frequency of microwave wave packets is crucial for several applications, such as the operation of superconducting quantum processors and the readout of superconducting sensors. We introduce a new approach to microwave frequency conversion harnessing a dynamic Doppler effect induced by a propagating front separating regions of different phase velocities. Employing a high-kinetic-inductance superconducting transmission line in a travelling-wave geometry, we were able to implement frequency shifts of microwave wave packets at 500 MHz and 4 GHz of up to 3.7 % while fully preserving their temporal shape. In contrast to conventional methods based on frequency-mixing, our Doppler-induced frequency-conversion method avoids spurious mixing products, is continuously tunable by a quasi-dc current amplitude, and allows to imprint arbitrary patterns on the instantaneous frequency profile of temporally long wave packets. By engineering transmission lines that allow for larger phase-velocity changes and/or by cascading multiple Doppler-induced frequency conversions, an unlimited amount of frequency shifting is in principle attainable. These features demonstrate the potential of our frequency-conversion technique as a promising tool for advanced control of microwave wave packets for different quantum applications. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall); Optics (physics.optics) Cite as: arXiv:2603.12436 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2603.12436v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2603.12436 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Felix Ahrens [view email] [v1] Thu, 12 Mar 2026 20:34:41 UTC (8,382 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Doppler-induced tunable and shape-preserving frequency conversion of microwave wave packets, by Felix Ahrens and 9 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-03 Change to browse by: cond-mat cond-mat.mes-hall physics physics.optics References & Citations INSPIRE HEP NASA ADSGoogle Scholar Semantic Scholar export BibTeX citation Loading... BibTeX formatted citation × loading... Data provided by: Bookmark Bibliographic Tools Bibliographic and Citation Tools Bibliographic Explorer Toggle Bibliographic Explorer (What is the Explorer?) Connected Papers Toggle Connected Papers (What is Connected Papers?) Litmaps Toggle Litmaps (What is Litmaps?) scite.ai Toggle scite Smart Citations (What are Smart Citations?) Code, Data, Media Code, Data and Media Associated with this Article alphaXiv Toggle alphaXiv (What is alphaXiv?) Links to Code Toggle CatalyzeX Code Finder for Papers (What is CatalyzeX?) DagsHub Toggle DagsHub (What is DagsHub?) GotitPub Toggle Gotit.pub (What is GotitPub?) Huggingface Toggle Hugging Face (What is Huggingface?) Links to Code Toggle Papers with Code (What is Papers with Code?) ScienceCast Toggle ScienceCast (What is ScienceCast?) Demos Demos Replicate Toggle Replicate (What is Replicate?) Spaces Toggle Hugging Face Spaces (What is Spaces?) Spaces Toggle TXYZ.AI (What is TXYZ.AI?) Related Papers Recommenders and Search Tools Link to Influence Flower Influence Flower (What are Influence Flowers?) Core recommender toggle CORE Recommender (What is CORE?) Author Venue Institution Topic About arXivLabs arXivLabs: experimental projects with community collaborators arXivLabs is a framework that allows collaborators to develop and share new arXiv features directly on our website. Both individuals and organizations that work with arXivLabs have embraced and accepted our values of openness, community, excellence, and user data privacy. arXiv is committed to these values and only works with partners that adhere to them. Have an idea for a project that will add value for arXiv's community? Learn more about arXivLabs. Which authors of this paper are endorsers? | Disable MathJax (What is MathJax?)