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Spins Interfaced with Light for Quantum Silicon technologies

Project description

Bright future for silicon in quantum technologies

Just like crystals that inherently possess imperfections, silicon has also many point defects. Recent research has shown these fluorescent point defects could be optically isolated and emit in the near-infrared and in telecom bands associated with minimal losses in optical fibres. The EU-funded SILEQS project aims to control these optically active defects and develop promising candidates for use in quantum computers, combining the benefits of electrical and photonic qubits. Researchers will seek to demonstrate for the first time indistinguishable single-photon emission from individual defects in silicon and control over their spin degrees of freedom. Project achievements will pave the way for advances in quantum integrated photonics, large-scale quantum networks and solid-state hybrid quantum systems.

Objective

Leveraging the success of the microelectronics and integrated photonics industries, silicon is one of the most promising platforms for developing large-scale quantum technologies. Quantum chips already available in silicon rely on either long-lived electrical qubits based on individual quantum dots or single donors, or on photonic qubits probabilistically generated by non-linear optical processes. Another type of quantum system could combine the advantages of both former qubits by featuring at the same time a stationary qubit with long coherence times and an optical interface adapted to long-distance exchange of quantum information. However, such a qubit that would be associated to optically-active spin defects is still to be demonstrated in silicon. This is the challenging objective of the current project.
The starting point of the SILEQS project is the recent discovery that silicon hosts many fluorescent point defects that can be optically isolated at single scale, and furthermore emit at the near-infrared range and telecom bands associated with minimal losses in optical fibers. This project aims to demonstrate for the first time in silicon (1) the indistinguishable single-photon emission from individual defects and (2) the control over their spin degrees of freedom to create multi-spin quantum registers coupled to single photons. Such achievements would open the door to developing silicon-integrated deterministic sources of photonic qubits and spin qubits interfaced with light for long-distance quantum communications in a platform adapted to large-scale nanofabrication and integration. Considering the advanced nanotechnology based on silicon, the SILEQS project could have significant impact in quantum technologies, including quantum integrated photonics, large-scale quantum networks and solid-state hybrid quantum systems.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2021-STG

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Host institution

CENTRE NATIONAL DE LA RECHERCHE SCIENTIFIQUE CNRS
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 500 000,00
Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 500 000,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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