Engineering Photonic Quantum Technologies

对量子力学定律的描述见证了社会对物理世界理解的转变我们第一次理解了那些支配着非常小的反直觉领域的规则。现在科学家们不再仅仅是被动的观察者，而是利用这些定律来发挥自己的优势，量子现象为我们提供了改进测量和通信的方法;此外，它们还有望在模拟材料和执行计算的方式上带来革命。在过去十年，量子现象的应用已取得重大进展，以应付这些挑战。这项“工程光子量子技术”计划资助大大超越了量子技术领域以往的成就。通过一系列精心策划的工作包，开发基础材料，系统工程和理论，我们将开发的知识和技能，使我们能够创建具有显着的学术和社会效益的应用示范。在量子技术领域，我们第一次将材料和设备开发以及实验工作与架构和容错方法的重要理论考虑相结合。我们的调查人员和合作伙伴团队在材料、单个组件、它们的集成以及基础理论方面拥有必要的专业知识，这些理论决定了在现实世界的限制条件下实现计划目标的最佳途径。通过该计划，我们将采用最有能力在四个技术演示中提供特定应用解决方案的材料系统，这些技术演示侧重于量子通信，量子增强传感，多路复用单光子源的构建以及优于现代经典类似物的信息处理系统。为了实现这一目标，我们的基础技术包将展示非常低的光损耗波导，这些波导将用于创建必要的光子组件“工具箱”，如分路器，延迟器，滤波器和开关。我们将把这些设备与超导和半导体单光子探测器系统和预示的单光子源集成在一起，以创建一个集成的源+电路+探测器能力，成为我们技术演示的基础。我们解决了将这些光学元件（在必要的低温环境中）与检测和前馈方案（如多路复用光子源和簇状态生成和计算）所需的非常低延迟的经典电子控制系统集成的挑战。在任何时候，对所有这些元素的性能进行全面分析，为我们的错误建模和容错设计工作提供信息;然后，这些信息为技术演示者的各个方面提供信息，从一开始，通过对系统最佳材料选择的决定，到晶圆上电路的布局。我们将演示多节点量子密钥分发（QKD）网络，高比特率QKD系统与中继器能够跨越无限距离。我们的量子增强传感将超越经典的散粒噪声限制，并看到便携式量子增强光谱系统的演示。我们的量子信息处理器将在容错方案中使用10个量子位运行，这将为1,000个量子位的集群状态计算架构提供路线图。

The description of the laws of quantum mechanics saw a transformation in society's understanding of the physical world-for the first time we understood the rules that govern the counterintuitive domain of the very small. Rather than being just passive observers now scientists are using these laws to their advantage and quantum phenomena are providing us with methods of improved measurement and communication; furthermore they promise a revolution in the way materials are simulated and computations are performed. Over the last decade significant progress has been made in the application of quantum phenomena to meeting these challenges.This "Engineering Photonic Quantum Technologies" Programme Grant goes significantly beyond previous achievements in the quantum technology field. Through a series of carefully orchestrated work packages that develop the underlying materials, systems engineering, and theory we will develop the knowledge and skills that enable us to create application demonstrators with significant academic and societal benefit. For the first time in quantum technologies we are combining materials and device development and experimental work with the important theoretical considerations of architectures and fault tolerant approaches. Our team of investigators and partners have the requisite expertise in materials, individual components, their integration, and the underpinning theory that dictates the optimal path to achieving the programme goals in the presence of real-world constraints. Through this programme we will adopt the materials systems most capable of providing application specific solutions in each of four technology demonstrations focused on quantum communications, quantum enhanced sensing, the construction of a multiplexed single-photon source and information processing systems that outperform modern classical analogues. To achieve this, our underlying technology packages will demonstrate very low optical-loss waveguides which will be used to create the necessary 'toolbox' of photonic components such as splitters, delays, filters and switches. We will integrate these devices with superconducting and semiconducting single-photon detector systems and heralded single-photon sources to create an integrated source+circuit+detector capability that becomes the basis for our technology demonstrations. We address the challenge of integrating these optical elements (in the necessary low-temperature environment) with the very low latency classical electronic control systems that are required of detection-and-feedforward schemes such as multiplexed photon-sources and cluster-state generation and computation. At all times a thorough analysis of the performance of all these elements informs our work on error modelling and fault tolerant designs; these then inform all aspects of the technology demonstrators from inception, through decisions on the optimal materials choices for a system, to the layout of a circuit on a wafer.With these capabilities we will usher in a disruptive transformation in ICT. We will demonstrate mutli-node quantum key distribution (QKD) networks, high-bit rate QKD systems with repeaters capable of spanning unlimited distances. Our quantum enhanced sensing will surpass the classical shot noise limit and see the demonstration of portable quantum-enhanced spectroscopy system. And our quantum information processors will operate with 10-qubits in a fault tolerant scheme which will provide the roadmap to 1,000 qubit cluster state computing architectures.