Roberto Osellame from Politecnico di Milano is visiting us during the afternoon of Wed, March 23th.
He will deliver a seminar at 2:30 PM, Aula Polvani
Integrated quantum photonics in femtosecond-laser-written circuits
Quantum information concepts and ideas open new exciting perspectives in many applications, such as communications, computing, measurement science and sensing. Indeed, the unique properties of quantum mechanics can provide unprecedented security to cryptography, increase in sensitivity for sensing devices, exponential speed-up in computing and simulation of complex quantum systems. However, until recent years, severe limitations to the photonic realization of quantum experiments were imposed by the stability and size requirements of bulk optics. More recently, the exploitation of waveguide optics allowed robust operation and monolithic miniaturization, thus opening new perspectives for quantum experiments exploiting photonic qubits. Femtosecond laser micromachining is an ideal solution for the realization of such circuits in transparent dielectric media. Indeed, femtosecond laser pulses can be used as a “pen” to directly inscribe low-loss waveguides inside the substrate in three-dimensional geometry, thus allowing the fabrication of rather complex circuits integrated in a single chip. In this seminar I will review many examples of laser written circuits that enabled significant advances in quantum simulation, computing and cryptography.