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

随着社会接近计算和通信的极限，我们将达到一个点，在那里我们使用的每个粒子，无论是电子还是光子，都携带着一位信息。科学现在正变得熟练地操纵单个量子粒子。我们将使用这些粒子的各种设备在灵敏度、速度、功率等方面的限制是由奇怪的量子物理定律设定的。对量子粒子的谨慎控制将使我们能够建造灵敏度大大提高的传感器(量子计量学)、能够解决棘手问题的计算机(量子信息)，以及第一个可证明安全的通信系统(量子加密)。这项研究计划的最终目标是创造这些潜在的革命性设备。**电子行业的小型化已经达到顶峰，形成了由数十亿个门组成的微芯片，这些芯片充当了当今大多数电子设备的大脑。利用这项为电子打造的技术，我们现在也可以制造用于光子的微芯片。这些被称为集成光学芯片的芯片将推动新的医疗和环境传感器以及未来电信系统的发明。虽然这些应用主要基于上个世纪的经典光学，但该计划将开发新型的光子芯片，这些芯片通过光的量子物理--量子光学--发挥作用。远程愿景是能够实现量子算法所需的复杂电路。在短期内，该计划将在一个芯片上创建小型量子信息处理器和基于量子计量的传感器。**这些量子光子芯片也有望成为发现重要的新基础物理学的特别肥沃的领域。它们由高度结构化的波导网(即光学“线”)组成，引导光子穿过芯片。在网络中的链路上，光子可以干扰并一起离开链路，就像它们被彼此吸引一样。因此，这些芯片有可能成为科学构建的最简单的相互作用粒子结构系统。出于这个原因，它们可以被构建成类似于一个完全不同的物理系统，例如固体的原子晶格。已经在这样的芯片中观察到了一些现象(例如‘安德森局部化’)，这些现象早就被预测到了，但在固体物理学中从未见过。此外，通过在网络中插入量子纠缠光子来探索量子物理在这些现象中的作用。这项计划将把光子芯片作为基础量子物理的试验场，从而进一步推动这一研究方向。**这项计划在量子计量学方面的研究有可能显著提高基于光的传感器的灵敏度，例如激光陀螺、化学和生物光谱传感器以及遥感光学设备。该计划还致力于开发一台量子计算机，它将能够解决特定的棘手计算任务，使药物开发中的分子和固体的量子力学模型能够预测其材料性质。**加拿大一直是光子电信和量子信息领域的先驱和领导者。这项研究计划利用机会，将加拿大在这两个领域的力量结合起来，为国家带来重大利益。在工程学、计算机科学、数学和物理学的这个交叉点上的研究将产生具有不同应用的新技术。该计划旨在吸引全球人才到加拿大来，并为加拿大工业培训高技能工人，掌握紧缺的工业技能，如光电子设计和计算物理。

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.