MRI: Development of single photon generation & characterization unit

本研究的目的是开发仪器，支持和加强罗切斯特大学三个系在量子光学、量子信息、纳米技术和显微镜领域的研究工作。该仪器将允许产生、检测和表征与物质相互作用的单个光子。它将由三个模块组成：单光子按需源，光通信波长效率为10%的高速单光子探测器，以及可以8ps时间分辨率运行的高速光子统计分析仪。这些最先进的设施将支持光学研究所、物理和天文系、电子和计算机工程系以及量子信息中心的研究。pi将在该项目中与BBN技术公司合作，BBN技术公司正在建设世界上第一个绝对安全的量子密钥分发网络。该提案的智力价值在于，它为一些最有前途的新技术领域的研究提供了必要的仪器支持：量子信息处理、量子通信和纳米科学。所有这些都涉及到最小单位的光与最小单位的物质的受控相互作用：单个光子与单个分子的相互作用。在这个项目中开发的设备将使罗切斯特大学的工作在所有这些领域取得进展。这项研究的目标是开发比任何经典计算机都强大得多的量子计算机，开发不受任何已知窃听方法影响的通信系统，以及将医疗和诊断仪器小型化到纳米级。

0420888StroudThe objective of this research is to develop instrumentation supporting and enhancing research efforts in three University of Rochester departments in the field of quantum optics, quantum information, nanotechnology, and microscopy. The instrumentation will allow the production, detection, and characterization of individual photons interacting with matter. It will consist of three modules: a single-photon-on-demand source, high-speed single-photon detectors with 10% efficiency at optical communications wavelengths, and a high-speed photon statistics analyzer that can operate with 8 ps time resolution. These state-of-the-art facilities will support research in the Institute of Optics, the departments of Physics and Astronomy, and Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Center for Quantum Information. The PIs will collaborate in this project with BBN Technologies, which is building the world's first absolutely secure quantum key distribution network. The intellectual merit of this proposal is that it provides essential instrumentation supporting research in some of the most promising new fields of technology: quantum information processing, quantum communications, and nanoscience. All of these involve the controlled interaction of the smallest units of light with the smallest units of matter: single photons interacting with single molecules. The facilities developed in this project will allow work at the University of Rochester to progress in all of these fields. The broader impact toward which this research is aimed is the development of quantum computers exponentially more powerful than any classical computer, the development of communication systems secure from any known method of eavesdropping, and miniaturization of medical and diagnostic instrumentation to the nanometer scale.