Embedded Files
Introducing the COMPHORT Project (Quantera 2023): Pioneering Quantum Photonics
We're proud to announce the initiation of COMPHORT (Quantum Communications with bright solid-state single-Photon emitters at Room Temperature), a groundbreaking project within the Quantera Call 2023 for Applied Quantum Science. Led by Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (UAM), this consortium unites key academic and industrial partners: University of Oldenburg, Technische Universität Berlin, İzmir Institute of Technology, University of Bristol, and companies Nanoplus GmbH and QLocked.
COMPHORT is set to revolutionize quantum photonics with a room-temperature, solid-state single-photon source that is user-friendly and highly efficient. Unlike current technologies that offer less than 10% photon generation probability, COMPHORT aims for over 80% efficiency by leveraging the unique properties of quantum emitters in hexagonal boron nitride, operating at ambient conditions.
This technology has immense potential in free-space quantum communication, especially in areas lacking fiber networks or requiring mobility, like in disaster zones or for autonomous vehicles. The collaboration of academic and industry experts ensures that COMPHORT not only advances quantum science but also aligns with market needs, strengthening Europe's position in the global quantum technology arena.
In essence, COMPHORT represents a significant step in transforming complex quantum technologies into accessible, practical tools for a wide range of applications. Stay tuned for more updates from this exciting and collaborative venture.
The COMPHORT project aims to develop a room-temperature single-photon source (RT-SPS) using a novel open cavity approach that addresses the limitations of current emitter-cavity platforms, such as lack of versatility and spectral tunability. This RT-SPS system will be both optically and electrically driven, housed within an integrated and compact titanium cage, and designed to maximize photon extraction efficiency and Purcell enhancement while providing spectral tunability. The methodology encompasses several key steps:
Numerically Optimized Cavity Design: To achieve high extraction efficiency and optimal performance through simulations that inform the design of the cavity, including its quality factors, free spectral range, and mode volume.
hBN Emitter Development: Focus on exploiting defects in hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) multilayers, which exhibit excellent spectral and polarization properties, short lifetimes, high count rates, and purity. This involves creating defects via proton/electron bombardment to generate consistent defects at desired locations, with an eye towards manufacturability.
Open Cavity Architecture for Optical and Electrical Operation: The cavity, constituted by two distributed Bragg reflector (DBR) mirrors separated by an air gap, allows for nanometric control over the cavity resonance energy, facilitating tunable and efficient single-photon extraction. The system will utilize GaInP-based LEDs for electrical pumping, targeting wavelengths in the 620-650 nm range, to excite the hBN emitters.
Advanced Spectroscopy and Dynamics: This involves analyzing the spectral properties of the hBN defects, characterizing the polarization properties of the single-photon emitters (SPEs), and investigating the temporal dynamics using time-correlated single-photon counting methods.
Benchmarking Brightness and Purity of RT-SPS: The brightness and purity of the RT-SPS will be benchmarked using pulsed excitation to measure emission count rates and a Hanbury-Brown & Twiss interferometer to assess single-photon purity.
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) Protocols: Implementations of lab-scale and metropolitan-scale QKD protocols using the developed RT-SPS will be conducted to demonstrate the practical applicability of these sources in secure quantum communication scenarios.
Quantum communication protocols to distribute a secret quantum key between Alice and Bob nodes, to be tested within COMPHORT in two different settings: (left) in a lab-environment (IIT) and (right) in a free space link in a metropolitan area (TUB).
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse