EPSRC Programme Grant
(2011-2016)

Semiconductor Integrated Quantum Optical Circuits

The Programme Grant funded by EPSRC targets the first semiconductor integrated quantum optical circuits. This goal aims to bring to fruition many of the key advances at the level of single component III-V nanostructures, opening up long-term exploitation in diverse fields of quantum information science.

Towards this global target we anticipate groundbreaking achievements in semiconductor physics and solid-state quantum optics.

To achieve our aims we have assembled a specially-selected team of investigators from the University of Sheffield, and from the Universities of Cambridge, Glasgow and Lancaster. The non-Sheffield teams are led by D A Ritchie, R H Hadfield and V Falko respectively. Together they provide a very wide spread of expertise to achieve our goals.

Our expertise is further enhanced by our links with the National Centre for III-V Technologies at Sheffield, providing access to high-class crystal growth and device processing.

There are six postdoctoral researchers working on the grant in Sheffield, and one each in the other three institutions. The research of 12 PhD students is devoted to Programme Grant topics.

The grant began in January 2012 and will last for five years. At the time of this update in January 2014, progress has been very good.

Key achievements include:

• On-chip transfer of spin information.

• On-chip Hanbury Brown Twiss and resonance fluorescence.

• Observation of bright polariton solitons in microcavities and their spin properties.

• Waveguide polaritons.

• Nano-NMR of quantum dots.

• Structural determination and deduction of nature of hole Bloch functions.

See our EPSRC flyer for more details (PDF, 299KB)

Find out more in the nano-optics, polariton and spin phenomena sections.