Silicon spin-photon devices for quantum technologies

Synopsis

Quantum information is undergoing a revolution as long-prophesied devices escape the lab and approach real-world applications. A dozen different quantum information technologies are competing to realize the full potential of quantum mechanics for computing and networking, with applications from secure communication to novel chemistry, materials design and cryptography. Silicon is an ideal platform for commercial quantum technologies: it unites advanced photonics and the microelectronics industry, as well as hosting record-setting long-lived spin qubits. The Silicon Quantum Technology lab at SFU is researching novel qubits for a spin-photon hybrid architecture that leverages the capabilities of silicon to build networked quantum technologies. In this talk I will introduce our research into a class of silicon emitters known as ‘radiation damage centres’ and in particular the T-centre, which we recently discovered combines long-coherence electronic and nuclear spin qubits with narrow, telecommunications-band optical transitions. This combination of properties is essential for spin-photon quantum technologies and an exciting new direction for deployable, scalable quantum information systems.