Integrated Lithium Niobate Quantum Devices

The goal of this project is to develop an integrated quantum photonics architecture by combining lithium niobate photonic circuits with single photon emitters based on atomically-thin 2D materials. Lithium niobate is a key material in integrated optics, widely used to develop photonic components such as ultralow-loss waveguides, switches, multiplexers and resonators. Due to its electro-optical properties, lithium niobate devices can be electrically tuned on ~100ps timescales.

Our aim is to integrate on this platform a novel type of single-photon emitters, which can be deterministically created in pre-selected spatial locations in an atomically-flat 2D material [1]. On-chip electrically-tunable lithium niobate components, developed in collaboration with the group of Dr Alberto Peruzzo (RMIT, Melbourne), will be used to collect, route and process the emitted photons. A fully-functional device will pave the way to experiments on multi-photon quantum information processing.

We wish to recruit highly motivated students to join an active research group at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh. Applicants should have, or expect to obtain a 1st Class Honours degree in a relevant discipline, for example Physics. The studentship comes with a standard ESPRC stipend of £14,100 per annum for a period of four years. University Fees are fully covered by the studentship.

The proposed work will be mostly experimental and will offer the chance to learn techniques such as laser spectroscopy, quantum optics, optical device processing and nano-fabrication, cryogenics.

Please send inquiries to Dr Cristian Bonato (c.bonato@hw.ac.uk) or Prof B Gerardot (b.d.gerardot@hw.ac.uk)

[1] A. Branny et al, arxiv:1610.01406 (2016)