9~GHz measurement of squeezed light by interfacing silicon photonics and integrated electronics

Photonic quantum technology can be enhanced by monolithic fabrication of both the underpinning quantum hardware and the corresponding electronics for classical readout and control. Together, this enables miniaturisation and mass-manufacture of small quantum devices---such as quantum communication nodes, quantum sensors and sources of randomness---and promises the precision and scale of fabrication required to assemble useful quantum computers. Here we combine CMOS compatible silicon and germanium-on-silicon nano-photonics with silicon-germanium integrated amplification electronics to improve performance of on-chip homodyne detection of quantum light. We observe a 3 dB bandwidth of 1.7 GHz, shot-noise limited performance beyond 9 GHz and minaturise the required footprint to 0.84 mm. We use the device to observe quantum squeezed light, from 100 MHz to 9 GHz, generated in a lithium niobate waveguide. This demonstrates that an all-integrated approach yields faster homodyne detectors for quantum technology than has been achieved to-date and opens the way to full-stack integration of photonic quantum devices.Comment: Nat. Photonics (2020

Phthalimide-derived strigolactone mimics as germinating agents for seeds of parasitic weeds

Broomrapes attack important crops, cause severe yield losses and are difficult to eliminate because their seed bank is virtually indestructible. In the absence of a host, the induction of seed germination leads to inevitable death due to nutrient starvation. Synthetic analogues ofgermination-inducing factorsmay constitute a cheap and feasible strategy to control the seed bank. These compounds should be easy and cheap to synthesise, as this will allow their mass production. The aim of this work is to obtain new synthethic germinating agents. Nineteen N-substituted phthalimides containing a butenolide ring and different substituents in the aromatic ringwere synthesised. The synthesis started with commercially available phthalimides. The complete collection was assayed against the parasitic weeds Orobanche minor, O. cumana, Phelipanche ramosa and P. aegyptiaca, with the synthetic strigolactone analogue GR24 used as a positive control. These compounds offered low EC50 values: O. cumana 38.3 M, O. minor 3.77 M, P. aegyptiaca 1.35 Mand P. ramosa 1.49 M. The synthesiswas carried out in a fewsteps and provided the target compounds in good yields. The compounds tested showed great selectivity, and low EC50 values were obtained for structures that were simpler than GR24

A Bi-CMOS electronic-photonic integrated circuit quantum light detector

Open access data related to the manuscript "A Bi-CMOS electronic-photonic integrated circuit quantum light detector

Shot-noise limited homodyne detection for MHz quantum light characterisation in the 2 µm band

Characterising quantum states of light in the 2 μm band requires high-performance shot-noise limited detectors. Here, we present the characterisation of a homodyne detector that we use to observe vacuum shot-noise via homodyne measurement with a 2.07 μm pulsed mode-locked laser. The device is designed primarily for pulsed illumination. It has a 3-dB bandwidth of 13.2 MHz, total conversion efficiency of 57% at 2.07 μm, and a common-mode rejection ratio of 48 dB at 39.5 MHz. The detector begins to saturate at 1.8 mW with 9 dB of shot-noise clearance at 5 MHz. This demonstration enables the characterisation of megahertz-quantum optical behaviour in the 2 μm band and provides a guide of how to design a 2 μm homodyne detector for quantum applications

Shot-noise limited homodyne detection for MHz quantum light characterisation in the 2 µm band

Characterising quantum states of light in the 2 μm band requires high-performance shot-noise limited detectors. Here, we present the characterisation of a homodyne detector that we use to observe vacuum shot-noise via homodyne measurement with a 2.07 μm pulsed mode-locked laser. The device is designed primarily for pulsed illumination. It has a 3-dB bandwidth of 13.2 MHz, total conversion efficiency of 57% at 2.07 μm, and a common-mode rejection ratio of 48 dB at 39.5 MHz. The detector begins to saturate at 1.8 mW with 9 dB of shot-noise clearance at 5 MHz. This demonstration enables the characterisation of megahertz-quantum optical behaviour in the 2 μm band and provides a guide of how to design a 2 μm homodyne detector for quantum applications

9 GHz measurement of squeezed light by interfacing silicon photonics and integrated electronics

Open access data related to the manuscript "9 GHz measurement of squeezed light by interfacing silicon photonics and integrated electronics" By Joel F. Tasker, Jonathan Frazer, Giacomo Ferranti, Euan J. Allen, Léandre F. Brunel, Sébastien Tanzilli, Virginia D' Auria, Jonathan C. F. Matthew