Abstract:  Recent advances in encoding qubits in microwaves have spurred the need for coherent microwave-to-optical transduction. Intense efforts are being made to tailor physical systems in a miniaturized and silicon-compatible platform to effect this transduction process. Demonstrations of this conversion have been made using electro-optics, optomechanics, and excited state Rydberg atomic systems. This thesis is both an experimental and theoretical study of microwave-to-optical transduction using room temperature, ground state neutral Rb atoms in a small vapor cell.

This thesis will address the challenges for microwave-to-optical transduction using a three-level atomic scheme at room temperature. Our research focuses on coherent interactions of lasers and microwaves with the hyperfine levels of 85Rb in the D1 manifold. The closed cyclic structure of the interactions makes the system phase sensitive and provides a handle to modulate the microwave phase in order to regulate the intensity of one of the lasers. This phase-to-intensity correlation makes the system a radio-over-fibre device. Additionally, by invoking a hybrid second-order nonlinearity possessed by this atomic scheme a platform for pulse-on-demand can be designed. Importantly, the pulse can be delayed or advanced by controlling the intensity of the microwave. The simultaneous observation of three-wave mixing (TWM) and six-wave mixing (SWM) processes in the same system will also be discussed.