H3Lo-QP: High-voltage High-IO High-transmission Low-temperature Quantum Photonics

集成光学电路是一种尖端的方法，可以在毫米大小的芯片中捕获和引导光，这种芯片将用于为下一代信息和通信技术提供动力。光学芯片在数据中心已经无处不在，这些数据中心为互联网提供动力，使数字社会更加互联。量子技术使用光的单粒子-光子-促进安全通信，增强环境传感器和超高速计算机。由于信息是由单个光子携带的，失去光子就意味着信息的不可挽回的损失。保留尽可能多的光的开关是所有这些应用的基本组成部分。在室温下，光子的相互作用很弱，大部分不受环境的干扰。然而，用于测量光子的探测器必须在低温下操作。下一代可扩展量子光子学必须解决操作光学芯片的挑战，并在与探测器相同的环境中切换光。迄今为止规模最大的量子信息实验使用了通过在材料中产生较大温度变化来操作的开关。然而，由于低温恒温器的冷却能力有限，这些开关不能在低温下大量操作。这个障碍可以通过使用不同的开关来克服，在开关上施加电场，并以最小的散热促进主动控制。H3Lo-QP（高io高传输高压低温量子光子学）项目将解决设计、制造、后处理和开发系统级架构的重要挑战，以低温操作下一代光量子技术所需的大量低散热集成光子开关。我们将研究两种类型开关的可行性：采用大规模制造技术对硅芯片进行后处理，并通过开发制造技术在尖端集成光子学平台（薄膜铌酸锂）中提供光开关。将开发控制电子系统的体系结构，使大量设备开关能够快速重新配置。我们将使用特殊技术封装制造的光学芯片，其中聚合物光学线直接将硅/铌酸锂芯片连接到用于在低温环境中传输光的光纤上。最后，我们将演示在低温下使用本项目开发的电光开关的大型设备。这项工作将确保光子量子技术的蓬勃发展，并对科学、学术界、工业界和社会产生深远的影响。

Integrated optical circuits are a cutting edge method of trapping and guiding light in millimetre sized chips that will be used to power the next generation of information and communication technologies. Optical chips are already ubiquitous in data centres that power the internet and enable an ever more interconnected digital society.Quantum technologies using single particles of light - photons - facilitate secure communications, enhanced environmental sensors, and ultra-fast computers. Since information is carried on individual photons, losing them represents an irretrievable loss of information. Switches that retain as much of the light as possible are a fundamental building block for all of these applications.Photons interact weakly and are mostly undisturbed by the environment at room temperature. The detectors used to measure photons, however, must be operated cryogenically. The next generation of scalable quantum photonics must solve the challenge of operating the optical chips, and switching light in the same environment as the detectors.The largest scale quantum information experiments to date have used switches that operate by creating a large temperature change in the material. These switches, however, cannot be operated en masse at cryogenic temperatures due to limited cooling power in cryostats. This roadblock can be overcome by using a different switch where an electric field is applied across the switch and facilitating active control with minimal heat dissipation.The H3Lo-QP (High-IO High-transmission High-voltage Low-temperature Quantum Photonics) project will address important challenges of designing, fabricating, post-processing, and developing the system-level architecture for cryogenically operating a large number of low heat-dissipation integrated photonics switches necessary for the next generation of optical quantum technologies.We will investigate the feasibility of two types of switches by post-processing silicon chips made using mass-manufacturing techniques, and by developing fabrication techniques to deliver optical switches in a cutting edge integrated photonics platform: thin-film lithium niobate.The architecture for the control electronics will be developed, enabling a large number of device switches to be rapidly reconfigured. We will package fabricated optical chips using special techniques where a polymer optical wire directly connects the silicon/lithium niobate chips to optical fibres used to transmit light in and out of the cryogenic environment. Finally, we will demonstrate a large-scale device operating at cryogenic temperatures using the electro-optic switches developed in this project.This work will ensure that photonic quantum technologies will flourish and with far reaching impacts across science, academia, industry, and society.