Manipulating light from a single photon to complex beams and wave packets, and their novel applications.

今天，社会比以往任何时候都更依赖互联网在世界各地传播信息。全光信号的产生和处理是基于光纤的电信系统（互联网和当今数字经济的支柱）的基石之一，这些操作在实现大量关键技术方面非常成功。其中，光信号的多路复用和解路复用可能是最大的成就之一，它允许以前所未有的速度传输信息。这种技术是基于一个非常简单但有效的操作原理：而不是编码脉冲的长序列在极高的重复率（这是非常苛刻的产生和处理），非常多（数百）种颜色（波长）的较慢的脉冲序列产生和处理分开但并行，从而提供相同数量的信息在每个通道的重复率低得多，导致一个明显更容易处理的光信号。*另一个潜在的概念是将量子信息光学引入现实世界的电信系统，这有望成为额外的基石。在量子信息中，经典比特（0和1，例如包含许多光子的光脉冲的缺失或存在）被一个量子态所取代，这个量子态持有一个被称为量子比特的量子信息单元。由于量子力学的性质，在不改变量子系统（读取量子位）的情况下，任何测量都无法进行，这意味着原则上任何对信息的篡改（即使只是监听）都必须留下痕迹。因此，量子技术构成了真正安全数据传输的基础。这就是为什么为了适应未来在数据量和安全性方面的需求，下一代电信网络的圣杯将是将量子信息技术与多路复用技术相结合。*鉴于这种毋庸置疑的兴趣，我最近在INRS-EMT开发了一个强有力的光子学研究项目，特别是集成光学，以实现这一重要目标。在目前的发现基金的框架内，我打算阐明量子力学，波动光学和（集成）光电子学之间的关系，以研究与光控制有关的两个基本方面。具体来说，在未来五年内，我将学习：1)基于使用玻璃集成环形谐振器创造第一个设备的可能性，能够产生几十个多路复用量子相关光子对（与量子存储器兼容）；2)利用所谓的艾里光束和脉冲的特性（既能自我弯曲/加速又能自我修复，即即使受到干扰也能再生）来克服众所周知的影响最重要非线性过程的材料限制；包括变频和ii)开发新的能量传递机制。*这样一个雄心勃勃的研究项目的好处是双重的：它不仅将为新的先进技术的发展铺平道路，符合加拿大数字经济的迫切需求，而且还将促进高素质人才的培养，以应对我们现代社会的科技挑战。

Today more than ever, society relies on the Internet to move information over the world. All-optical signal generation and processing is one of the foundation stones of fiber-based telecommunication systems (the backbone of both the Internet and today's digital economy), where these operations have been highly successful at enabling a vast array of key technologies. Among those, the multiplexing and de-multiplexing of optical signals is perhaps one of the biggest achievements, allowing transfer of information at unprecedented speeds. This technique is based on a very simple but effective operation principle: instead of coding long trains of pulses at extremely high repetition rates (which are very demanding to generate and process), slower pulse trains of very many (hundreds) of colors (wavelengths) are generated and processed separately yet in parallel, thus delivering the same amount of information at much lower repetition rates in each channel, resulting in a significantly easier handling of the optical signal. *Another potential concept, which is hoped to be an additional foundation stone, is the introduction of quantum information optics into real-world telecommunication systems. In quantum information, the classical bit (zeros and ones, e.g. the absence or presence of an optical pulse containing many photons) is replaced by a quantum state, holding a quantum information unit known as the qubit. Due to the nature of quantum mechanics, no measurement can be performed without altering the quantum system (read qubit) and this means that in principle any tampering (even just listening) of a message must leave a trace. For this reason, quantum technology forms the basis of real secure data transfer. This is why, in order to accommodate future demands in terms of data volume and of security, the holy grail of next-generation telecommunication networks will be to combine the technology of quantum information with that of multiplexing technologies. *Given this unquestionable interest, I have recently developed at INRS-EMT a vigorous research program in photonics and in particular, in integrated optics, towards reaching this important objective. In the framework of the present Discovery Grant, I intend to shed some light onto the relation between quantum mechanics, wave optics and (integrated) optoelectronics to investigate two fundamental aspects related to the control of light. Specifically, in the next five years, I will study: 1) the possibility of creating the first device, based on the use of glass integrated ring resonators, capable of generating several tens of MULTIPLEXED QUANTUM CORRELATED photon pairs (compatible with quantum memories) and 2) using the property of the so-called Airy beams and pulses (which are both self-bending/accelerating and self-healing, i.e. they can be regenerated even when perturbed) to i) overcome the well-known material constrains affecting the most important nonlinear processes, including frequency conversion and ii) to develop novel energy transfer mechanisms.*The benefits related to such an ambitious research program are twofold: not only will it pave the way to the development of new advanced technologies, consistent with the IMMEDIATE needs of the Canadian digital economy, but it will also promote the training of highly qualified personnel to respond to the scientific and technological challenges of our modern society.