Development of an Integrated Optics Platform for Quantum Information Processing and Quantum Metrology

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As society approaches the ultimate limits of computing and communication we will reach a point where each particle we use, electron or photon, carries one bit of information. Science is now becoming adept at manipulating individual quantum particles. The limits in sensitivity, speed, power, etc. of the various devices that we would use these particles in are set by the strange laws of Quantum Physics. The careful control of quantum particles will allow us to build sensors with dramatically higher sensitivity (Quantum Metrology), computers than can solve intractable problems (Quantum Information), and the first provably secure communication systems (Quantum Cryptography). The eventual goal of this research program is to create these potentially revolutionary devices.Miniaturization in the electronics industry has culminated in microchips made up of billions of gates that act as the brains of most electronic devices today. Leveraging this technology built for electrons, we can now create microchips for photons as well. Known as integrated optical chips, these will drive the invention of new medical and environmental sensors and future telecommunications systems. Whereas these applications are mainly based on the classical optics of the last century, this program will develop new kinds of photonic chips that function via the quantum physics of light, ‘quantum optics’. The long-range vision is to be able to implement the complicated circuits required by quantum algorithms. In the short-term, this program will create small-scale Quantum Information Processors and Quantum Metrology-based sensors on a chip.These quantum photonic chips also promise to be a particularly fertile area in which to discover important new basic physics. They are comprised of highly structured networks of waveguides (i.e. optical ‘wires’) that guide the photons across the chip. At links in the networks, photons can interfere and exit the link together as if they were attracted to each other. Consequently, these chips have the potential to be the simplest structured system of interacting particles that science has constructed. For this reason, they can be built to act as an analog to a completely different physical system, for instance a solid’s atomic lattice. Already, phenomena (e.g. ‘Anderson Localization’) have been observed in such chips that have been long predicted but never seen in the physics of solids. Moreover, the role of quantum physics in these phenomena has been probed by inserting quantum entangled photons into the networks. This program will push this research direction further by using the photonic chip as a testing ground for fundamental quantum physics.This program’s research in Quantum Metrology has the potential to dramatically improve the sensitivity of light-based sensors, e.g. laser gyros, chemical and biological spectral sensors, and remote sensing optical devices. The program is also working towards a quantum computer, which will be able to solve particular intractable computational tasks, enabling the modeling of the quantum mechanics of molecules for drug development and of solids to predict their material properties. Canada has been a pioneer and leader in both Photonic Telecommunications and Quantum Information. This research program capitalizes on the opportunity to join Canada’s strength in these two areas to produce significant benefits for the country. Research at this intersection of engineering, computer science, mathematics, and physics will produce new technologies with diverse applications. The program aims to draw global talent to Canada and also to train highly skilled workers for Canadian Industry in in-demand industrial skills such as photonics design and computational physics.