Proposal for an optomechanical traveling wave phonon–photon translator

In this paper, we describe a general optomechanical system for converting photons to phonons in an efficient and reversible manner. We analyze classically and quantum mechanically the conversion process and proceed to a more concrete description of a phonon–photon translator (PPT) formed from coupled photonic and phononic crystal planar circuits. The application of the PPT to RF-microwave photonics and circuit QED, including proposals utilizing this system for optical wavelength conversion, long-lived quantum memory and state transfer from optical to superconducting qubits, is considered.