Quantum dynamics of microwave photons in synthetic frequency dimension
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Quantum Physics arXiv:2602.13736 (quant-ph) [Submitted on 14 Feb 2026] Title:Quantum dynamics of microwave photons in synthetic frequency dimension Authors:Zheshu Xie, Luojia Wang, Jiawei Qiu, Libo Zhang, Yuxuan Zhou, Ziyu Tao, Wenhui Huang, Yongqi Liang, Jiajian Zhang, Yuanzhen Chen, Song Liu, Jingjing Niu, Yang Liu, Youpeng Zhong, Luqi Yuan, Dapeng Yu View a PDF of the paper titled Quantum dynamics of microwave photons in synthetic frequency dimension, by Zheshu Xie and 15 other authors View PDF HTML (experimental) Abstract:Synthetic frequency dimension offers a powerful approach to simulate lattice models and control photon dynamics. However, extending this concept into the quantum regime, particularly at the single-photon level, has remained challenging in photonic platforms. Here, we demonstrate quantum-state initialization and detection of single-photon evolutions within a synthetic frequency lattice by integrating a superconducting qubit with a 16-meter aluminum coaxial cable. A tunable superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID)-based modulator is employed to synthesize lattice couplings and artificial gauge fields. We observe single-photon quantum random walks and Bloch oscillations, as well as nonadiabatic, unidirectional frequency conversion under rapid temporal modulation of the lattice Hamiltonian, together with band-structure measurements. The lattice connectivity can be readily reconfigured to construct higher-dimensional lattices using multiple drive tones. Our results establish superconducting quantum circuits as a versatile platform for programmable Hamiltonians and extensible synthetic lattices with flexible single-photon control. Subjects: Quantum Physics (quant-ph); Optics (physics.optics) Cite as: arXiv:2602.13736 [quant-ph] (or arXiv:2602.13736v1 [quant-ph] for this version) https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2602.13736 Focus to learn more arXiv-issued DOI via DataCite (pending registration) Submission history From: Luqi Yuan [view email] [v1] Sat, 14 Feb 2026 12:01:18 UTC (6,194 KB) Full-text links: Access Paper: View a PDF of the paper titled Quantum dynamics of microwave photons in synthetic frequency dimension, by Zheshu Xie and 15 other authorsView PDFHTML (experimental)TeX Source view license Current browse context: quant-ph new | recent | 2026-02 Change to browse by: 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?)