Quantum network with magnonic and mechanical nodes

A quantum network consisting of magnonic and mechanical nodes connected by light is proposed. Recent years have witnessed a significant development in cavity magnonics based on collective spin excitations in ferrimagnetic crystals, such as yttrium iron garnet (YIG). Magnonic systems are considered to be a promising building block for a future quantum network. However, a major limitation of the system is that the coherence time of the magnon excitations is limited by their intrinsic loss (typically in the order of 1 μs for YIG). Here, we show that by coupling the magnonic system to a mechanical system using optical pulses, an arbitrary magnonic state (either classical or quantum) can be transferred to and stored in a distant long-lived mechanical resonator. The fidelity depends on the pulse parameters and the transmission loss. We further show that the magnonic and mechanical nodes can be prepared in a macroscopic entangled state. These demonstrate the quantum state transfer and entanglement distribution in such a novel quantum network of magnonic and mechanical nodes. Our work shows the possibility to connect two separate fields of optomagnonics and optomechanics, and to build a long-distance quantum network based on magnonic and mechanical systems.