Montréal is home to over 100 companies and six universities with photonics activities that drive regional economic development. This paper provides an update on the Montréal Photonics Networking Event, an annual meeting heading into its’ 8th edition in 2024. The event’s stated mission is to build a collaborative environment for the development of student researchers, with the ambition to facilitate research synergies and connect with the industry to showcase research and career opportunities. Since 2015, online and in-person events have taken place, with a measured growth of 50% year-on-year, a cumulative reach of 600 participants, and the establishment of 30 partnerships with industry, photonics student chapters, research clusters, and socio-economic development partners. The event is coordinated by a network of volunteer students and professional's representative of the attendees and collaborators. Activities, promotional material, and marketing strategies to create audience engagement before, during, and after the event will be presented, along with lessons learned to enable peer-to-peer development online and in person across multiple academic research institutions.
Time-entanglement is a promising resource for the implementation of quantum communications over standard fiber networks. In particular, photonic qudits can enhance the performance of quantum communication, including quantum key distribution, in terms of noise robustness, quantum information content, distance reach, as well as security and secret key rates. However, time-entangled photonic qudits are not ready yet to be fully exploited for quantum communications in fiber networks that are fully compatible with standard telecommunication architecture. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of telecommunication-compatible quantum communications based on picosecond-spaced time-entangled qudits. To this end, we make use of an integrated photonic chip comprising a cascade of programmable interferometers and a spiral waveguide. We use entangled qudits to implement high-speed quantum key distribution, chip-to-chip entanglement distribution, and quantum state propagation over 60 km of standard fiber. Our results show the potential of time-entangled qudits for high-speed quantum communications in telecommunication-compatible architecture.
KEYWORDS: Quantum optics, Picosecond phenomena, Temporal resolution, Dispersion, Time correlated single photon counting, Electro optics, Single photon detectors, Signal detection, Signal processing
High temporal resolution detection for time-correlated single-photon counting (TCSPC) is critical for a broad range of applications, such as sensing, bio-imaging and quantum information. To harness non-classical advantages, high temporal resolution TCSPC is necessary to capture the unique properties of quantum entanglement, in which the precise time delays between two photons are used to reconstruct the biphoton distribution. However, current state-of-the art, high-resolution TCSPC systems, such as superconducting nanowires, have large footprints and require cryogenic cooling to liquid helium temperatures. They are not well equipped to be conveniently mounted on a satellite or transported within a health care facility. Small footprint, simple, low energy consuming single photon detection systems are therefore needed in order for high temporal resolution TCSPC applications to move beyond the research laboratory. In this direction, we demonstrate a proof-of-concept experiment for improving the temporal resolution of single-photon and biphoton detection schemes that is simple, fiber-based, and readily chip integrable. The principle relies on electrooptic gating of fast single-photon and biphoton signals using a high-speed RF pulse which drives an electro optic intensity modulator. As such, the instrument response function (IRF) of the detection scheme takes on the temporal profile of the electro-optic gate. Experimentally, we improve the IRF of our detection scheme from ~1.54 ns to <100 ps, allowing high resolution detection of ultrafast single photon TCSPC signals as well as to observe nonlocal dispersion cancellation effects in ultrafast biphoton distributions. This technique could allow for practical and simplified access to rapid temporal dynamics at the single photon scale.
This paper discusses motivations and challenges behind the online transition of the Montreal Photonics Networking event. Design, organization strategies, and outcomes of this educational and community-focused activity are presented.
We review our work on implementing integrated QFC sources based on microring resonators for on-chip generation of two- and multi-photon time-bin entangled states, d-level frequency-entangled photon pairs, and multipartite d-level cluster states. We also present our recent progress on telecom-compatible, scalable, time-entangled two-photon qubits using on-chip Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) in combination with spiral waveguides. Both approaches are highly cost-effective, efficient, and practical, since we coherently manipulate the time and frequency modes through standard fiber-linked components that are compatible with off-the-shelf telecommunications infrastructures. Our work paves the way for robust sources and processors of complex photon states for future quantum technologies.
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