Explore how the Sparrow technology enables a new era of practical and powerful photonic systems.
High indistinguishability means that each photon generated is identical across all attributes, including wavelength, polarisation and timing. Since the indistinguishability measures the extent to which two photons can interfere coherently, high indistinguishability is the foundation for a diverse set of photonic quantum technologies. When photons aren't perfectly matched, error rates increase exponentially, limiting system performance. Our reliable single-photon source, Sparrow Core, maintains high indistinguishability across thousands of photons. Product page
Photonic quantum chips often require frequent tuning to maintain reliable performance. However, the exceptional stability of Sparrow Core ensures reliable operation for months without major adjustments, maintaining consistent performance even after thermal cycling. The advanced photonic crystal design provides resilience to noise, while the planar configuration incorporates spatial filtering to simplify optical alignment and streamline experimental setups. Read more
Unlike superconducting qubits, which require extreme sub-zero cooling, the quantum states of photons remain stable at room temperature (20°C–25°C or 68°F–77°F). This eliminates the need for complex cooling setups, making photonic systems more accessible and cost-effective. For optimal performance, the Sparrow Core operates at 4 kelvin in a compact, tabletop cryostat, providing a simple and portable solution for quantum experimentation. (LINK TO SOMETHING HERE).
For optimal performance, the chip should be mounted in a low-vibration cryostat with both electrical and optical access. The quantum dot is excited by a pulsed laser focused onto the chip through a confocal microscope objective. Single-photon emission is collected via the same objective, while photonic crystal nanostructures integrated into the chip automatically filter out the laser pump light. This ensures the single-photon stream is ready for immediate use. LINK TO DIAGRAM OR APPLICATION NOTE (DO WE HAVE THAT?)
The source demonstrates robustness to thermal cycling over time. Little to no wavelength variations allow operation over multiple thermal cycles. For more insights, read about one customer’s experience in Vienna (LINK).
A deterministic single-photon source provides reliable, on-demand photon emission, ensuring maximum efficiency and scalability for quantum technologies. It enables high-fidelity operations, simplifies system integration, and reduces complexity, empowering cutting-edge quantum technologies to reach their full potential.
We typically aim to deliver single-photon sources with efficiencies exceeding 50%. For an 80 MHz pulsed laser, this translates to at least 40 million photons emitted from the chip. The single-photon beam mode can achieve up to 84% overlap with the core of a single-mode fiber, resulting in over 33 million photons coupled into the fiber. The final count rate will depend on additional setup-dependent losses.
Quantum dots are ideal for single-photon sources due to their precise photon control, near-perfect light coupling in photonic nanostructures, and solid-state stability. They minimize decoherence, ensuring high-quality photons for quantum communication, computing, and networking while being compact, scalable, and reliable. READ MORE HERE: "Quantum-dot-based photonic networks"
High indistinguishability means that each photon generated is identical across all attributes, including wavelength, polarisation and timing. Since indistinguishability measures the extent to which two photons can interfere coherently, high indistinguishability is the foundation for a diverse set of photonic quantum technologies. If the photons are not perfectly matched, error rates increase exponentially, limiting system performance. Our reliable single-photon source, Sparrow Core, maintains high indistinguishability across thousands of photons. Product page
Photonic quantum chips often require frequent tuning to maintain reliable performance. However, the exceptional stability of Sparrow Core ensures reliable operation for months at a time without major adjustments, maintaining consistent performance even after thermal cycling. The advanced photonic crystal design provides resilience to noise, while the planar configuration incorporates spatial filtering to simplify optical alignment and streamline experimental setups. Read more
Unlike superconducting qubits, which require extreme cooling with fractions of a degree from above absolute zero, photonic quantum states remain stable at room temperature. This eliminates the need for complex cooling setups like large dilution fridges, making photonic systems more accessible and cost-effective. Photons can be routed and processed at room temperature. The quantum-dot source itself operates at 4 K in a compact cryostat—without requiring the large dilution refrigerators used by some other quantum hardware platforms.
A deterministic single-photon source reliably produces a single photon each time it is activated, ensuring precise control over photon emission. A probabilistic source, on the other hand, generates photons randomly, and so there is no guarantee that the photon will be produced upon activation of the source. This lack of certainty can lead to inefficiencies, introduce delays and reduce the overall performance of quantum protocols. As a deterministic source, Sparrow Core enables high-fidelity operations, simplifies system integration, and reduces complexity, empowering cutting-edge quantum technologies to reach their full potential.
