Overview
This research area investigates the implementation of quantum information protocols using photons and integrated optical waveguides. Our research focuses on the design, fabrication and characterisation of innovative devices, and the development of new technology that will move quantum technologies out of the lab and into the real world. To visit our group website, go to www.iqtlab.net.
Team leader - Associate Professor Mirko Lobino
Assoc. Professor Mirko Lobino leads the integrated quantum photonics group at Griffith University. Here he established a fabrication facility for integrated optical devices in lithium niobate and for crystal periodic-poling. He is an expert in the design and fabrication of integrated optical devices for classical and quantum applications. In particular, he fabricated periodically-poled waveguides in LN for frequency conversion at telecom wavelength, demonstrated for the first time fast manipulation of single photons in LN waveguides and the generation of photon pairs in periodically-poled lithium tantalate waveguide. In 2013 he received an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Research Award.
Our research
Our research activity focuses on the development of innovative integrated optical devices for quantum information applications. We use lithium niobate platforms for the fabrication of a wide range of integrated devices such as nonclassical sources and reconfigurable linear circuits.
The main objectives of this research are: implementation of nonclassical light sources in nonlinear waveguides, realisation of fast reconfigurable quantum circuits in guiding structures and the integration of several components on a single substrate.
Some of the projects we are currently developing are:
- Frequency conversion of single photons across the WDM spectrum.
- Continous variable cluster state on chip.
- Waveguide interface for ion trapped quantum networking.
Demultiplexing of single photons from a solid state source
In this experiment, we demonstrated a scheme for active temporal-to-spatial demultiplexing of single photons generated by a solid-state source. The scheme scales quasi-polynomially with photon number, providing a viable technological path for routing n photons in the one temporal stream from a single emitter to n different spatial modes. Active demultiplexing is demonstrated using a state-of-the-art photon source—a quantum dot deterministically coupled to a micropillar cavity—and a custom-built demultiplexer—a network of electro-optically reconfigurable waveguides monolithically integrated in a lithium niobate chip. The measured demultiplexer performance can enable a six-photon rate three orders of magnitude higher than the equivalent heralded SPDC source, providing a platform for intermediate quantum computation protocols. This work was done in collaboration with the groups of Professor White from the University of Queensland and Professor Senellart from CNRS-Paris (France).
Ref. Lenzini et al., Laser Photonics Rev. 11,1600297 (2017) / DOI 10.1002/lpor.201600297