Description
Acronym: SiQuro
Typology: Large Project
Full title:
On silicon chip quantum optics for quantum computing and secure communications
Duration: 01/09/2013 to 31/08/2017
Total costs: Euro 2,319,456.64
PAT contribution: Euro 2,319,456.64
Coordinating entity: University of Trento
Project leader: Prof. Lorenzo Pavesi
Other participants:
- Bruno Kessler Foundation
- National Research Council - National Institute of Optics
- Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
Thematic area OSR: Materials science: inorganic and hybrid micro-nano-technologies
Website: http://events.unitn.it/en/siquro
Project objectives:
The SIQURO project has secure communication and quantum computing as its scope. In both cases, a key role is played by the foundations of quantum mechanics, which has the property that only a direct measurement (and thus a perturbation) allows the state of the system to be known.
Thus, neither how a system will evolve over time nor the details of states composed of many particles can be known a priori. Thus, these two properties can be used to realise, on the one hand, perfectly random number generators and, on the other hand, computers that perform many operations on continuous variables in parallel and at the same time, generating a multiplicity of results at the same time.
On the one hand, random number generators are the providers of security keys with which to securely encrypt data and enable secure communications. On the other hand, quantum computation needs a platform on which to realise it, in SIQURO this platform is silicon-integrated optics. The choice of silicon-integrated quantum photonics is motivated by the possibility of replicating the success of microelectronics in photonics and thus realising fast, low-power, mass-producible and inexpensive quantum systems. SIQURO sets the stage for the second quantum revolution, after the transistor and the laser.
Even the European Commission shares the importance of this path, so much so that the launch of a flagship project on quantum technologies for 2020 has already been approved.
State of the art and solutions to the problem/solutions existing before the project, and improvements introduced by the project:
In SIQURO we have the ambition to integrate a complete quantum photonic system (source, circuit, detector) for the first time. There are examples in the literature of isolated components or macroscopic systems that realise similar functions, but there are no circuits that integrate all the various components on a single chip. On the other hand, physical random number generators do exist on the market(www.idquantique.com ) , SIQURO's innovation is the integration of all generator components on a single silicon chip, which will allow competitive advantages in terms of performance, cost, footprint and industrialisation.
Work organisation:
The working group includes researchers, collaborators and PhD students from the Nanoscience laboratory and the Cryptolab laboratory of the University of Trento, researchers from the Materials and Microsystems Centre of the Bruno Kessler Foundation, researchers and collaborators from the National Institute of Optics of the CNR from the Florence and Trento units, and finally researchers and collaborators from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. In addition, various companies participate as subcontractors: III-V lab (France), Telsy and AdvanSid.
The project involves a complementarity of actions ranging from the development of new theories in the field of quantum optics, the design and realisation of integrated optical circuits, the measurement and modelling of observed physical phenomena, to the fabrication and validation of operational prototypes. A common factor in fabrication is to use silicon microelectronic technologies.
There are currently various collaborations with international groups that have resulted in the organisation of joint events (e.g. TopoDays(http://webmagazine.unitn.it/en/evento/dphys/8846/topodays-2016 ).
From an application point of view, we are working on setting up a university start-up to industrialise the random number generator. To this end, we have a series of contacts with many companies mediated by Trentino Sviluppo. Confidentiality requirements prevent us from disclosing the names of these companies.
Results achieved:
During the project, 14 papers were published in 2016, 24 in 2015, 7 in 2014. Two patents were filed, one of which was international. We were invited to participate in the Italian working group on the flagship. In 2017 we are organising a physics school on integrated quantum photonics in collaboration with the CNR Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnology.
In detail, a complete theory of quantum light fluids has been elaborated, we have demonstrated a safe and modelling quantum random number generator, we have fabricated quantum photonic circuits that process entangled states of light, we have demonstrated for the first time a detector in the mid-infrared at room temperature capable of performing entangled state correlations, we have produced silicon nitride optical microcavities with quality factors in excess of a few million, ....
Impact:
A general difficulty in patenting exists and is caused by the length and complexity of the procedure involved in patenting. Another delicate aspect is the fact that unlike in European projects, the ownership of the patent is in the province, which complicates the formalisation of collaborations on the SIQURO project topics and the industrial exploitation of the results. For these reasons, we have only patented the various architectures and methodologies underlying the random number generators because we have a strong interest in setting up a start-up. The other results, although with considerable application potential, have been published.
Keywords: photonics, secure communications, security, quantum computing, silicon
Press Release:
https://www.ufficiostampa.provincia.tn.it/content/view/full/42857
Web pages about the random number generator
http://webmagazine.unitn.it/ricerca/10292/proteggere-i-dati-di-pagamenti-e-conversazioni