MENLO PARK, Calif. and BOSTON, Oct. 9, 2024 -- Artilux, the leader of GeSi (germanium-silicon) photonics technology and pioneer of CMOS (complementary metal-oxide-semiconductor) based SWIR (short-wavelength infrared) single photon detection, announces its collaboration with Dr. Richard A. Soref, a renowned expert widely known as the "father of silicon photonics", to jointly investigate the field of quantum information processing based on the integrated silicon photonics platform. The first result from this collaboration, 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.

Currently, large-scale photonic quantum computing (PQC) systems typically consist of three main building blocks: (1) quantum sources that generate single photons, (2) quantum circuits that manipulate single photons, and (3) quantum detectors that measure single photons. Existing PQC architectures rely on superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) based on superconductors such as niobium nitride (NbN) operated at a temperature less than 4 Kelvin. Such a cryogenic cooling requirement not only consumes a huge amount of power, it also makes testing systems slow and expensive, significantly limiting wider use outside of specialized facilities.

To bring PQC systems into a revolutionary room-temperature (RT) operation paradigm, this work has proposed replacing the conventional SNSPDs with a newly designed waveguide-based germanium-silicon (GeSi) single-photon avalanche diode (SPAD) based on Artilux's recent breakthrough 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 GeSi SPADs detectors with a proper gating window, a highly integrated electronic-photonic system capable of being operated outside cryogenic environment can be realized. When benchmarked to NbN SNSPD designs, the group has further shown that the simulated RT GeSi SPAD designs might even outperform current NbN SNSPD based designs.

Dr. 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 photonic integrated circuits (and their associated electronic circuits) confirms our predictions of performance metrics that are fully equivalent to those of the present art."

Dr. Neil Na, Chief Scientist and CTO of Artilux, also addressed, "This unique system platform is a dream come true for many scientists and engineers, because the analyzed photonic integrated circuits 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."

This groundbreaking collaboration between Artilux and Dr. Soref marks the first sign that RT GeSi SPADs may compete with cryogenic NbN SNSPDs in many quantum information processing applications, including quantum computation, quantum communication, quantum sensing, and quantum imaging. As the demand for quantum technology grows, this innovative approach has the potential to accelerate widespread adoption, bringing the future of RT quantum computing closer to reality. Artilux is poised to be a critical member here by continuing to push the boundaries of photonics technology, driving innovation that will shape the next generation of computing and beyond.