Photonic integrated circuits constitute a promising platform to develop quantum information processing units, capable of running quantum algorithms at the physical level. Unlike other physical realizations of qubits, photons provide an excellent carrier of quantum information that can travel over long distances, enabling secure communication between distant parties. As the classical Internet is currently heavily relying on optical technologies, it is expected that quantum communication based on quantum light, will soon impact the way we communicate, securing our digital transactions, identity and private conversations. Yet, much needs to be done to develop integrated photonic processors capable of producing and manipulating many single photons with sufficiently low loss, low noise and high speed. The ambitious goal of NANOMEQ is to develop the key hardware to build such advanced quantum photonic resources in an efficient way.
The project investigates a novel class of integrated devices for controlling quantum light at the nanoscale. In traditional quantum photonic integrated circuits, the light is controlled using thermal devices, which are slow and incompatible with quantum emitters or detectors, which operate at cryogenic temperatures of a few degrees Kelvin above the absolute zero. To gain speed and cryogenic compatibility, NANOMEQ sets out to develop nano-opto-electromechanical systems, or NOEMS in short, which employ nanometer-size motion to achieve optical control over the photonic qubits and the relevant light-matter interaction processes. This new approach allows us to co-integrate quantum emitters, such as quantum dots, directly with the photonic quantum gates, with unprecedented system efficiency.
The project develops over three main areas:
1) Implementing a universal, reconfigurable, and on-chip unitary gate,
2) Controlling light-matter interaction with quantum emitters in a chip to scale the number of photon sources in the chip, and
3) Performing frequency conversion to produce photons at the telecom wavelength, for long distance communications.
In all three areas, the key functionality will be provided by nanomechanical devices, which provide an ultra-compact, low-power, low-loss, and novel approach to programmable photonic circuits. By integrating the quantum emitters with the quantum logic gates, the project aims at demonstrating small-scale quantum photonic circuits, which can be readily used for entanglement-based communication, or, in the longer run, as resources for quantum computing.
