Nanophotonic approaches for integrated quantum photonics
Stefano Pierini, Mackrine Nahra, Maxime Joos, Muhammad H. Muhammad, V. Agafonov, Emmanuel P. Lhuillier, Fabien Geoffray, Валерий Александрович Давыдов, Quentin C. Glorieux, E. Giacobino, Sylvain Blaize, Alberto Bramati, Christophe Couteau
Photons for quantum technologies have been identified early on as a very good candidate for carrying quantum information encoded onto them, either by polarization encoding, time encoding or spatial encoding. Quantum cryptography, quantum communications, quantum networks in general and quantum computing are some of the applications targeted by what is now called quantum photonics. Nevertheless, it was pretty clear at an early stage that bulk optics for handling quantum states of light with photons would not be able to deliver what is needed for these technologies. More recently, single photons, entangled photons and quantum optics in general have been coupled to more integrated approaches coming from classical optics in order to meet the requirements of scalability, reliablility and efficiency for quantum technologies. In this article, we develop our recent advances in two different nanophotonic platforms for quantum photonics using elongated optical fibers and integrated glass waveguides made by the so-called ion-exchange technique. We also present our latest results on quantum nanoemitters that we plan to couple and incorporate with our photonics platforms. These nanoemitters are of two kinds: nanocrystals made of perovskites as well as silicon-vacancy defect centers in nanodiamonds. Some of their properties are developed in this work. We will then give the general steps necessary in order to couple these nanoemitters efficiently with our platforms in the near future.
Photons for quantum technologies have been identified early on as a very good candidate for carrying quantum information encoded onto them, either by polarization encoding, time encoding or spatial encoding. Quantum cryptography, quantum communications, quantum networks in general and quantum computing are some of the applications targeted by what is now called quantum photonics. Nevertheless, it was pretty clear at an early stage that bulk optics for handling quantum states of light with photons would not be able to deliver what is needed for these technologies. More recently, single photons, entangled photons and quantum optics in general have been coupled to more integrated approaches coming from classical optics in order to meet the requirements of scalability, reliablility and efficiency for quantum technologies. In this article, we develop our recent advances in two different nanophotonic platforms for quantum photonics using elongated optical fibers and integrated glass waveguides made by the so-called ion-exchange technique. We also present our latest results on quantum nanoemitters that we plan to couple and incorporate with our photonics platforms. These nanoemitters are of two kinds: nanocrystals made of perovskites as well as silicon-vacancy defect centers in nanodiamonds. Some of their properties are developed in this work. We will then give the general steps necessary in order to couple these nanoemitters efficiently with our platforms in the near future.
Photons have been identified early on as a very good candidate for quantum technologies applications, as carriers of quantum information, either by polarization encoding, time encoding or spatial encoding. Quantum cryptography, quantum communications, quantum networks and quantum computing are some of the applications targeted by the so called quantum photonics. Nevertheless, it was also clear at an early stage that bulk optics for handling quantum states of light would not be the best option for these technologies. More recently, single photons, entangled photons and quantum light in general have been coupled to integrated approaches coming from classical optics in order to meet the requirements of scalability, reliability and efficiency for quantum technologies. In this article, we describe our recent advances using elongated optical nano-fibers. We also present our latest results on nanocrystals made of perovskites and discuss some of their quantum properties. Finally, we will discuss the general steps necessary in order to couple these nanoemitters efficiently with our photonic platform, based on tapered optical nanofibers.
Abstract Photons have been identified early on as a very good candidate for quantum technologies applications, as carriers of quantum information, either by polarization encoding, time encoding or spatial encoding. Quantum cryptography, quantum communications, quantum networks and quantum computing are some of the applications targeted by the so called quantum photonics. Nevertheless, it was also clear at an early stage that bulk optics for handling quantum states of light would not be the best option for these technologies. More recently, single photons, entangled photons and quantum light in general have been coupled to integrated approaches coming from classical optics in order to meet the requirements of scalability, reliability and efficiency for quantum technologies. In this article, we describe our recent advances using elongated optical nano-fibers. We also present our latest results on nanocrystals made of perovskites and discuss some of their quantum properties. Finally, we will discuss the general steps necessary in order to couple these nanoemitters efficiently with our photonic platform, based on taperd optical nanofibers.
Very recently, the interest for quantum technologies by the scientific community and industry has strongly increased. Different types of implementations have been proposed as a practical implementation for a quantum bit. In particular, quantum photonics is a strong candidate for such applications. We are interested in using single photons and single spins in diamond as a solid state host matrix (nanodiamonds or membranes). Integration of nanosources of light is currently a major bottleneck preventing the realisation of all-photonic chips for quantum technologies and nanophotonics applications. Ideally, one needs optical circuitry, on-chip photodetection and on-chip generation of quantum states of light (single photons, entangled photons…). Our recent work on a new platform for quantum photonics using integrated optics can offer an easier and robust way to create compact quantum circuits that can be on chip and scalable. In this context, the coupling between waveguides and single photon emitters is critical. The goal of our research is to efficiently couple single photon emitters with a new platform made of optical glass waveguides. These waveguides are based on the so-called ion-exchange glass technology and is know in the photonics industry for quite some time but has never been used in the context of quantum technologies. Efficient light-matter interface is of primordial importance in this system. To achieve this goal, several paths are undertaken such as the use of dielectric and plasmonic structuration in order to increase the light interaction with the waveguide or to develop fabrication techniques to insert the emitters directly inside the guide (for nanodiamonds). We will show what is our current state of the art for placing single emitters at the right place on our optical waveguides made of ion-exchange in glass and in particular what can be done to improve our first promising results in order to get near unity coupling between the optical bus and single photon emitters. We will show first results with semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) but also using nitrogen-vacancy and silicon-vacancy defects in nanodiamond. The very first step in of our approach consists in the design of the structured waveguide using electromagnetic FDTD. We demonstrated that it is possible to achieve more than 90% coupling. In practice, before using coloured centres in diamond, we started working with CdSe/ZnS semiconductor nanocrystals. So far, we use straight waveguides defined to be single modes at the nominal wavelength of the emission line of the nanoemitters. The positioning of nanoemitters is still a challenge to be achieved. We developed an original technique based on photopolymerisation of light where the nanocrystals are grafted into a light sensitive polymer and can be placed at adequate positions.
Very recently, the interest for quantum technologies by the scientific community and industry has strongly increased. Different types of implementations have been proposed as a practical implementation for a quantum bit as trapped atoms, superconducting qubits and single photons. In particular, we are interested in using single photons and single spins in solid state host matrices such as diamond (nanodiamonds or membranes). Integration of nanosources of light is currently a major bottleneck preventing the realisation of all-photonic chips for quantum technologies and nanophotonics applications. Nanophotonics and integrated optics are vast growing fields with huge market potentials in particular for quantum technologies. Ideally, one needs optical circuitry, on-chip photodetection and on-chip generation of quantum states of light (single photons, entangled photons…). We want to present our recent work on using integrated optics that can offer an easier and robust way to create fixed and compact quantum circuits that can be on chip and scalable. In this context, the coupling between waveguides and single photon emitters is critical. The goal of our research is to efficiently couple single photon emitters with a new platform made of optical glass waveguides. To achieve this goal, several paths are undertaken such as the use of dielectric and plasmonic structuration in order to increase the light interaction with the waveguide or to develop fabrication techniques to insert the emitters directly inside the guide (for nanodiamonds). We will show what is our current state of the art for placing single emitters at the right place on our optical waveguides made of ion-exchange in glass and in particular what can be done to improve our first promising results in order to get near unity coupling between the optical bus and single photon emitters. We will show first results with semiconductor nanocrystals (NCs) but also using nitrogen-vacancy defects in diamond either under nanodiamond form or in thin membranes.
For future quantum technologies and in particular for quantum architecture systems, one needs to consider scalability and reproducibility in order to be able to handle and add easily as many qubits of information as possible on a given platform. Quantum coherence and quantum information are fragile and thus requires the need for many qubits to be created, to interact and quantum information to be preserved. Currently there are either very good qubits in terms of fidelity but poor scalability or very good scalability but poor fidelity thus requiring more qubits to compensate. Most of the current platforms are in solid-state physics such as superconducting, dopants in silicon, quantum dots in III-V semiconductors or defects in diamond. The main interest for condensed matter systems is the fact that it is potentially scalable as integration is possible in the future, already demonstrated in the ‘classical’ semiconductor industry. Nevertheless, there are some true challenges in controlling and understanding the mechanisms of decoherence, losses and unwanted effects in these ‘dirty’ systems. As quantum technologies require ultimate control of quantum effects such as maintaining quantum coherence, quantum superposition and entanglement, it pushes towards deeper knowledge of underlying material and condensed matter physics. Photons are of particular interest as they are good carriers of quantum information and one aim is to explore a fully integrated photonic quantum circuit which would be a hybrid system made of stationary solid-state qubits (we will call them quantum emitters) coupled together via single photons travelling within a common optical bus that is photonics-ready for quantum communications within a network of quantum nodes. In this presentation, we will present our latest developments and results towards the integration of quantum emitters with photonic structures with nanosize features. In the first part, our platform is described which consists of glass and thus directly compatible with optical fibres. It is based on the technique of exchanged ions within the glass in order to create locally a particular confinement of the light. The next part will concern our latest results on two different quantum emitters. The first one is based on perovskite nanocristals that can be synthetised chemically and giving rise to quantum optics-type of emitters. The second one is based on the so-called silicon-vacancy defect centre in nanodiamonds. These emitters are produced by the high-pressure/high-temperature method and lead to promising results for quantum technologies. Finally, the last part will treat the nanophotonics approaches in order to couple efficiently these emitters with our platform.
Optical chips for quantum photonics are cutting-edge technology, merging photonics and quantum mechanics to manipulate light at the quantum level. These chips are crucial for advancing quantum computing, secure communication, and precision sensing by integrating photonic components such as waveguides, beam splitters, and detectors to manipulate single photons, the fundamental carriers of quantum information. Key advancements in optical chips include low-loss waveguides, efficient single-photon sources, and high-fidelity quantum gates, all essential for scalable quantum circuits. Integrating these circuits on a chip offers significant advantages in miniaturization, stability, and reproducibility over traditional bulk optics setups. Recent breakthroughs in materials science and nanofabrication have propelled the field forward, enabling the production of chips with higher precision and lower defect rates. Silicon photonics, in particular, has become a prominent platform due to its compatibility with existing semiconductor manufacturing processes, facilitating the integration of quantum photonic circuits with classical electronic systems. Here, we share our vision of the future of optical chips for quantum photonics, which hold promise for various applications. In quantum computing, they enable the development of compact and scalable quantum processors. In communication, they provide the foundation for ultra-secure quantum networks through quantum key distribution. In sensing, they allow for high-precision measurements that surpass classical limits. As research progresses, optical chips are expected to play a critical role in realizing the full potential of quantum technologies.