Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Qdet (Quantum Detectors)
Okres sprawozdawczy: 2017-05-01 do 2018-10-31
Detection of single photons is central to fundamental quantum optics experiments but also crucial for society since it is needed in a wide range of technologies such as quantum cryptography and medical imaging, all with important commercial and social applications. In HANAS, a hybrid quantum system was developed where single photons were generated with new devices based on quantum dots. The single photons were then stored in a quantum memory based on an atomic Rubidium vapour. The quantum memory represents an important addition to the quantum toolbox that will allow the operation of quantum technologies: to exchange and process information at the quantum limit, with energy consumption and data security limited by the laws of physics.
In this project the objectives were to develop, benchmark and introduce to the market a new type of detectors with applications similar to the HANAS project.
In this project a fully optimized prototype for operation at crucial atomic frequencies such as 795 nm where the D2 transition in Rubidium has already allowed numerous key experiments such as Bose Einstein condensation, high sensitivity gravimeters and atomic memories operating at the single photon level has been developed, benchmarked and brought to market by Single Quantum.
In Deliverable 1.1 the fabrication and assembly of the prototype has been described, fully optimized for the application described in this proposal.
In Deliverable 1.2 the testing and benchmarking has been described, showing that the prototype completely outperforms state of the art detectors by several orders of magnitude.
Deliverable 2.1 describes how the prototype can be brought to market and finally deliverable 2.2 describes the promising business case relating to these developments.
During our market study a lot of customers showed real interest in our product. Demonstration have been performed at members of the HANAS consortium. In addition we exhibited the prototype at more than 10 conferences and this also lead to >10 demonstrations. Finally, only 6 months of dissemination of this fully optimized product for atomic applications (i.e. a wavelength of 795 nm) has lead to 5 product sales:
1. University of Hannover, Germany;
2. National University of Singapore, Singapore;
3. University of Ottawa, Canada;
4. University of Sydney, Australia;
5. Universität Palacky, Czech Republic
The cumulative worth of these orders is 520,000 Euro.