MANATEE: Deterministic single photon sources for quantum computing and communications

单光子是未来量子技术产业的主力，是高保真量子计算、量子通信、量子成像和某些类型的量子传感器的基本组成部分。这也是ORCA计划建立一个完全可扩展的、基于光纤的光子量子计算平台的基本步骤，该平台将克服其他平台在中期面临的连接和扩展挑战。然而，由于高性能单光子源的可用性，这些领域一直受到阻碍。对于量子计算来说，单光子是不确定的，这意味着它们不确定是否会产生。相反，目前的单光子源在大多数时候发射的是“空白”，在单光子应该存在的地方有空间。对于量子通信来说，单光子的产生速率也是有限的，这限制了商业量子密钥分配系统的可行性。对于许多其他应用，单光子源成熟度低，成本高或需要低温冷却；所有这些特征都极大地限制了它们的市场吸收程度。该项目将利用ORCA的专利光存储技术，在参数下转换和光存储方面的专有技术，提供高效，确定性的单光子源。

Single photons are the workhorse of the future quantum technology industry, being a fundamental component to high fidelity quantum computing, quantum communications, quantum imaging and some types of quantum sensors. They are also a fundamental step in ORCA's plans to build a fully-scalable, optical fiber based photonic quantum computing platform, which will overcome the connectivity and scaling challenges that other platforms face in the medium-term. However, these fields have been held back because of the availability of high-performance single photon sources. For quantum computing single photons are not deterministic, meaning that it is not certain that they will be produced. Instead, current single photon sources fire 'blanks' for most of the time, with spaces where the single photons should be. For quantum communications the rate at which single photons can be created is also limited, which limits the viability of commercial QKD systems. For many other applications, single photon sources are low maturity, high-cost or require cryogenic cooling; all features which significantly limit the extent of their market uptake. This project will leverage ORCA's patented optical memory technology, know-how in parametric down conversion and optical memories to deliver a highly efficient, deterministic single photon source.