A universal electronics platform for quantum applications & cryogenic optoelectronics

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This PhD project will engineer a universal, ultra-high-performance electronics platform to accelerate quantum and classical optics technological development. Revolutionary devices for quantum computing, cryogenic optoelectronics, and quantum sensing will be controlled through this adaptable, adequate electronic system. This interdisciplinary project will deliver a scalable control system to prove valuable industrial applications within a scalable photonics platform. This project falls within the EPSRC Quantum Technologies, Quantum Devices, Components and Systems research area.Nearly a decade ago, photon-based universal quantum computers were thought unfeasible due to the complexity of integrating single-photon sources, detectors, and control measurements feed-forward overheads. Modern measurement-based computing schemes suggest that considerably reducing these overheads is possible, and research at Bristol has drastically advanced this technology. Feed-forward techniques measure real-time photon states to compensate for the remaining quantum uncertainty. This functionality fundamentally depends on ultrafast, integrated time-of-flight electronic control. Silicon complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor (CMOS) classical electronics can amplify optoelectronic detector measurements and provide system intelligence within the cryogenic environmental conditions. Modular application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) will be developed from commercial CMOS electronics to read-out single-photon detector signals, perform sequential logic operations, and drive electro-optic actuators. CMOS works at cryogenic temperatures with little changes in digital signals but requires further precise development for analogue measurement and modulation signals from optoelectronic interfaces. This ambitious project has a robust plan in case of natural engineering development risks. In parallel, off-the-shelf integrated circuits (ICs) and field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) components will be used to pragmatically build custom printed circuit boards (PCBs) to achieve the desired functionality to their best possible operation. The system will adequately interface with the photonic chips through superconducting nanowire detectors and experimental GeSn avalanche photodiodes. The circuits will drive electro-optical devices such as nonlinear Kerr modulators and traditional carrier dispersion modulators within silicon photonic chips. This project will be co-supervised by Dr Josh Silverstone and Dr Edmund Harbord from the Photonics group of the historical world-leading Bristol QET Labs, based in the Electrical and Electronic Engineering Department.