Quantum Terahertz Nanoelectronics (QuanTeraN)

英国是太赫兹（THz）科学和技术的领先国家之一。目前，有几个研究小组和公司（QMC仪器，Teraview，激光量子等）。该公司在全国各地专门从事太赫兹源，探测器以及基础研究和商业用途的应用的研究和开发。尽管英国有一个强大的THz社区，但THz和量子技术研究之间没有联系。量子技术目前处于英国研究和创新的前沿。随着投资总额高达10亿英镑，难以捉摸的量子理论被转化为新技术，即所谓的“第二次量子革命”。量子比特是所有量子技术的基本组成部分，它有着丰富的竞争性，从超导、飞行、拓扑到原子和光学。尽管变化很大，但所有这些量子比特都有一个共同点：需要一种强大，可靠和可扩展的技术来生成，检测和操作。混合高频光电量子比特在鲁棒性和可扩展性方面有很大的希望。在这个项目中，我们将开发下一代太赫兹光电子源，特别关注其能源效率。标准光电器件由于其高操作能量和低光电转换效率而在与量子电路一起使用时处于不利地位。不幸的是，这会导致不必要的散热，当它被放置在量子电路附近时，它会严重破坏该电路携带的任何量子信息。拟议的源将至少提高20到50倍的效率，并且可以在未来与量子纳米电子电路一起使用，以产生超快的皮秒量子比特，而不会破坏相邻量子电路的量子性质。此外，本项目开发的新型光电器件可用于研究皮秒和亚皮秒时间尺度的基本量子力学相互作用。这项研究将在格拉斯哥大学詹姆斯瓦特工程学院电子和纳米工程系进行。该项目的持续时间为24个月，它将涉及詹姆斯瓦特纳米纤维中心的先进纳米纤维和光电装置的开发。该装置将具有在近红外波长下进行超快泵-探测测量的能力。通过这种设置，我们将产生节能的皮秒（THz）脉冲，测量它们的绝对效率，并将其与标准的商业设备进行比较。该项目得益于Neel研究所、CNRS、法国和QMC Instruments研究小组的合作和支持。这项研究的结果将朝着更强大和可扩展的量子比特以及访问超快量子动力学迈出一步。

The UK is one of the leading countries in Terahertz (THz) science and technology. At the moment, there are several research groups and companies (QMC Instruments, Teraview, Laser Quantum etc.) across the country specialising in research and development of THz sources, detectors as well as applications for fundamental research and commercial use. Even though there is a strong THz community in the UK, there are no links between THz and Quantum Technology research. Quantum technology is right now at the forefront of UK's research and innovation. With investments totalling up to £1bn [1], elusive quantum theories are transformed into new technologies, in the so called 'second quantum revolution'. Qubits, the fundamental building blocks of all quantum technologies, have come in an abundance of competing flavours ranging from superconducting, flying, topological to atomic and optical. Despite the large variation, all these qubits have one thing in common: the need of a robust, reliable and scalable technology for their generation, detection and manipulation. Hybrid, high-frequency optoelectronic qubits hold a great promise for robustness and scalability. In this project we will develop the next generation of THz optoelectronic sources with a particular focus on their energy efficiency. Standard optoelectronic devices are at a disadvantage for using them together with quantum circuits due to their high operation energy and low optical-to-electrical conversion efficiency. This, unfortunately, results into an unwanted dissipated heat and when it is put in the proximity of a quantum circuit it can seriously disrupt any quantum information carried by that circuit. The proposed sources will be at least 20 to 50 times more efficient and can used in the future alongside quantum nanoelectronic circuits to generate ultrafast, picosecond qubits without disrupting the quantum nature of neighbouring quantum circuits. In addition, the novel optoelectronic devices developed in this project can be used to study fundamental quantum mechanical interactions at picosecond and sub-picosecond timescales. This research will be undertaken at the Department of Electronic and Nanoscale Engineering at the James Watt School of Engineering, University of Glasgow. The duration of this project is 24 months and it will involve advanced nanofabrication at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre and the development of an optoelectronic setup. This setup will have capabilities of performing ultrafast pump-probe measurements at near infrared wavelengths. Through this setup we will generate energy efficient picosecond (THz) pulses, measure their absolute efficiency and compare this with standard commercial devices. This project benefits from collaborations and support from research groups at the Institute Neel, CNRS, France and QMC Instruments. The results from this research will be a step forward towards more robust and scalable qubits as well as accessing ultrafast quantum dynamics.