Artilux collaborates with Richard A. Soref on quantum computing
The company is working on germanium-silicon single photon detectors, which it says could pave the way for room-temperature photonic quantum computing
Artilux, a company focusing on germanium-silicon photonics technology and CMOS-based short-wavelength infrared (SWIR) single photon detection, has announced it is collaborating with silicon photonics expert Richard A. Soref to jointly investigate the field of quantum information processing based on the integrated silicon photonics platform. The first result from this collaboration, a paper recently published in APL Quantum titled “Room-temperature photonic quantum computing in integrated silicon photonics with germanium–silicon single-photon avalanche diodes”, charts a new path for “cryogenics-free” quantum information processing applications, the company says.
Currently, large-scale photonic quantum computing (PQC) systems typically consist of three main building blocks: quantum sources that generate single photons; quantum circuits that manipulate single photons; and quantum detectors that measure single photons. Existing PQC architectures rely on superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) based on superconductors such as niobium nitride operated at a temperature less than 4 Kelvin. Such a cryogenic cooling requirement not only consumes a huge amount of power, but also makes testing systems slow and expensive, significantly limiting wider use outside of specialised facilities.
With the goal of bringing PQC systems into a revolutionary room-temperature operation paradigm, this work has proposed replacing the conventional SNSPDs with a newly designed waveguide-based germanium-silicon single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) based on a recent development by Artilux published in Nature in February 2024. By combining on-chip waveguided spontaneous four-wave mixing sources, waveguided field-programmable interferometer mesh circuits, and a waveguided spatially-multiplexed array of photon-number-resolving germanium-silicon SPAD detectors with a proper gating window, the company says it is possible to realise a highly integrated electronic-photonic system capable of being operated outside a cryogenic environment. When benchmarked to niobium nitride SNSPD designs, the group say they have further shown that the simulated room-temperature germanium-silicon SPAD designs might even outperform current niobium nitride SNSPD based designs.
Richard A. Soref said: “Cryogenic modules are presently used in all photonic quantum computers and in many photonic quantum information applications, and we expect that such modules can be eliminated after experimental R&D on PICs (and their associated electronic circuits) confirms our predictions of performance metrics that are fully equivalent to those of the present art.”
Neil Na, chief scientist and CTO of Artilux, added: “This unique system platform is a dream come true for many scientists and engineers, because the analysed PICs combined with novel single-photon detectors can be used for room-temperature photonic quantum computing, which is significant in accelerating the R&D needed to enter the era of universal quantum computing.”
According to Artilux, this collaboration with Richard A. Soref marks the first sign that room-temperature silicon-germanium SPADs may compete with cryogenic niobium nitride SNSPDs in many quantum information processing applications, including quantum computation, quantum communication, quantum sensing, and quantum imaging. As the demand for quantum technology grows, the company says this innovative approach has the potential to accelerate widespread adoption, bringing the future of room-temperature quantum computing closer to reality.
