High Quantum Efficiency Detectors

量子技术是英国工业战略的核心资产。它们将保护数字世界，看到当前相机无法做到的地方，并支持新药，这要归功于量子计算机解决当前棘手的计算。在大学和研究中心的合作下，英国高科技产业正在努力将它们从科学概念转化为可用的技术，产品和能力。为了支持这一挑战，政府和行业已承诺提供超过10亿英镑的资金。光子学是引领量子技术发展和部署的领域之一。光可以进行量子保密通信，测量引力波等微弱信号，并解决量子算法。基于光子学的量子技术要么需要一次测量一个单光子（单光子探测器），要么需要以最小的损失记录连续的量子光信号（比例探测器），以保留使它们不同于经典光的特征。在这里，我们解决量子光学技术的第二种方法。今天，基于这种测量方案的应用是有限的，探测器是由研究人员自制的，通常在时间和金钱上花费巨大。通过这个项目，我们加入了Bay Photonics的专业知识和能力，（光学封装和光电子学），RedWave Labs（电子），工艺创新中心的经验和资源（光子应用）和斯特拉斯克莱德大学和格拉斯哥大学的研究小组（量子源，低噪声电子学，量子计量学）设计，构建并测试量子传感器的原型，以解决市场和供应链中的这一差距。我们的目标是提供第一个商业解决方案，用于测量由数千到数十亿个光子组成的光的量子态。工艺创新中心和联合国大学团队的参与，一方面将有助于产品的设计，另一方面也将作为开发技术的最终用户测试。这一努力的结果将是一个多功能的解决方案，用于高灵敏度测量，使量子计量学和一些最先进的量子计算概念成为可能。

Quantum technologies are a core asset in the UK industrial strategy. They will secure the digital world, see where current cameras cannot, and underpin new drugs, thanks to quantum computers solving currently intractable calculations. In collaboration with the Universities and Research Centres, UK high-tech industries are working on translating them from scientific concepts to available technologies, products, and capabilities. To support this challenge, more than £1Billion has been committed in both Government and Industry funding. Photonics is one of the sectors leading the development and deployment of quantum technologies.Light can carry quantum-secured communications, measure faint signal such as gravitational waves, and solve quantum algorithms. Photonics-based quantum technologies are either required to measure single photons one at a time (single-photon detectors) or to record continuous quantum light signals (proportional detectors) with minimal losses to retain the signatures that make them different from classical light. Here we address this second approach to quantum optical technologies. Today, applications based on such measurement schemes are limited, and detectors are home-built by researchers, often at significant cost in time and monetary. With this project, we join the expertise and capabilities of Bay Photonics (optical packaging and optoelectronics), RedWave Labs (electronics), the experience and resources of the Centre for Process Innovation (photonic applications) and of research teams at the Universities of Strathclyde and Glasgow (quantum sources, low-noise electronics, quantum metrology) to design, build and test a prototype of a quantum sensor able to address this gap in the market and supply chain. We aim to provide the first commercial solution for measuring quantum states of light composed of thousands to several billion photons. The engagement of the Centre for Process Innovation and the University teams will, on the one hand, contribute to the design of the product, and on the other, serve as an end-user test for the developed technology. The outcome of this endeavour will be a versatile solution for the high sensitivity measurements empowering quantum metrology and some of the most advanced concepts of quantum computing.