Researchers from the University of Bristol‘s Quantum Engineering Technology Labs (QET Labs) and Université Côte d’Azur have made a new miniaturized light detector to measure quantum features of light in more detail than ever before. The device, made from two silicon chips working together, was used to measure the unique properties of “squeezed” quantum light at record high speeds.
Measuring squeezed light requires detectors that are engineered for ultra-low electronic noise, in order to detect the weak quantum features of light. But such detectors have so far been limited in the speed of signals that can be measured—about one thousand million cycles per second.
The integrated detector has so far been clocked at an order of magnitude faster than the previous state of the art, and the team is working on refining the technology to go even faster.
The detector’s footprint is less than a square millimeter—this small size enables the detector’s high-speed performance. The detector is built out of silicon microelectronics and a silicon photonics chip. (Phys.org)
The work has been published in Nature Photonics.