Femtosecond laser writing for photonic quantum processors

Project Information

FUTURE

Grant agreement ID: 101136471

DOI

10.3030/101136471

Project closed

EC signature date 2 October 2023

Start date 1 November 2023

End date 31 January 2026

Funded under

• The European Innovation Council (EIC)

Total cost

€ 2 495 968,75

EU contribution

€ 2 495 968,75

Coordinated by

EPHOS SRL
Italy

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FUTURE (Femtosecond laser writing for photonic quantum processors)

Reporting period: 2023-11-01 to 2024-10-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Ephos is a photonic quantum computing company. Our objective is to build the key element of the infrastructure to power quantum computing: photonic chips. Ephos has a unique asset to reach this goal: it is the only photonic quantum startup in the world with in-house chip manufacturing capabilities. We build our glass-based photonic quantum processors using a femtosecond laser writing (FLW) process developed by our founding team. Our fabrication process, with respect to those of our competitors, is faster, has lower-cost, higher flexibility, and is capable of working with 3D structures. The resulting chips have low interface losses, which makes them the ideal building blocks of the modular architectures that are the leading contender to deliver scalable quantum computation. The aim of the current project is to support Ephos in establishing the world’s most advanced FLW facility for the production of quantum photonic chips. Over the course of this project, we will build the largest programmable quantum photonic processor in the market. This project will enable the development of more powerful and efficient quantum computing technologies that have the potential to revolutionize various industries. The lower-cost and higher flexibility of Ephos' fabrication process could potentially make quantum computing more accessible for a wider range of organizations and researchers.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the first reporting period we established the first commercial facility in the world for the fabrication of photonics integrated circuits using the innovative FLW technology. We have purchased the necessary equipment which we have installed in a custom-made and specifically-tailored clean room. In the meantime, we have developed a 3D architecture with continuously-coupled waveguides that allows us to rapidly scale the number of optical modes while keeping low insertion losses. We have developed a software for the design of 3D waveguide arrays and we have produced a 64 mode programmable device. In addition, we have developed a dedicated machine learning software to calibrate and characterize the 3D photonic circuits. We have tested this software for increasing complexity of the devices, from 32 to 64 optical modes. Finally, we have investigated and optimized the packaging process by optimizing the fiber to waveguide coupling and the pigtailing process with single fibers and fiber-arrays.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

We have developed a femtosecond laser writing facility with environmental control beyond the state of the art. The control of temperature and humidity in our cleanroom is very tight and we expect that this will produce unprecedented levels of reproducibility and control of the writing process. We have developed 3D photonic devices with the largest number of modes available commercially and we have developed very efficient design and calibration software tools.

Fully programmable chip produced in glass by femtosecond laser writing

Femtosecond laser writing facilities in a cleanroom