The Quantum Ultrabroadband Integrated Circuits and Systems (Qupics) project – a coalition among multiple academic institutions, government labs, and technology manufacturers – has been selected to receive substantial support from the US Department of Defense to accelerate the lab-to-fab transition in quantum technologies.

The Qupics team consists of AIM Photonics, Cornell University, Rochester Institute of Technology, Columbia University, Yale University, Air Force Research Laboratory, NIST, Quantinuum, Xanadu, and Rochester-based Toptica Photonics Inc.

Led by the American Institute for Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics) and Cornell University, the team will develop a novel 300-mm foundry fabrication platform for quantum technologies which will span the ultraviolet to the infrared. Qupics will specially address the foundry gap for trapped ion, neutral atom, and photonic quantum technologies incorporating broadband photonics, electro-optic devices, multimetal layer electrical functionality, and lasers into a single broadly available technology offering.

Qupics will develop and incorporate passive photonics, active components, and laser sources from the ultraviolet to the infrared geared to the use of quantum technologies. Integrated systems spanning this broad wavelength range are critical for a variety of photonics-heavy quantum systems for commercial and DoD priority applications in quantum sensing, networking, computation, and position navigation and timing (PNT). In later years Qupics will open to multiproject wafer (MPW) runs and will be actively searching for partners from government laboratories, academia, and businesses.

Mark Tolbert, CEO of Toptica Photonics Inc said, “For more than two decades, we have enabled quantum technologies and pushed innovation. We will do the same by developing chip-integrated lasers for the Qupics project.”

Further reading: S. Ritter (Toprica Photonics): Talking About a Revolution: From Quantum Mechanics to Quantum Technologies, PhotonicsViews 18(2), April 2021; DOI: 10.1002/phvs.202100031