Quantum Technology

Revolutionise the world we live in

Quantum Technology refers to the next generation of computing, communication, simulation and sensing technology that relies on two key features of individual atoms, electrons or light particles (photons): superposition and entanglement.

Discover how our comprehensive solutions are core to the development and commercialisation of these ground-breaking quantum technologies.

Highlights for you

Quantum technolgy enables advanced computing and communication

Superposition allows these quantum systems to live in multiple states at once, while entanglement allows them to be co-dependent, enabling the possibility of connecting them in a network while still acting as one system.

Understanding the mechanics of the Quantum world at the turn of the century enabled some of the most widely used technologies today such as the flash memory, superconductors, lasers and LEDs. Today, we are seeing the evolution of a new generation of quantum devices that goes beyond the exploitation of quantum effects and relies on the manipulation of quantum states.

Quantum technology is now enabling a new generation of photonics and electronics applications from quantum computing to solve seemingly intractable problems, sensors for navigation, atomic clocks and secure data communications.

Our application experts are available to consult with you on addressing your quatum-related challenges.

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Collaboration News

University of Glasgow Partners with Oxford Instruments NanoScience on Quantum Computing

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Oxford Instruments joins Chicago Quantum Exchange (CQE)

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Queen Mary chooses cryogenic technology from Oxford Instruments NanoScience to support quantum research

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Applications

High performance low temperature systems for NISQ type computation and simulation

Quantum Computing

Seeing the invisible using low photon count cameras

Quantum Imaging

Sensors and devices enabling navigation, healthcare and the digital economy

Quantum Sensing

Deposition and etch tools enabling development of functional materials

Quantum Materials

Quantum Computing

Quantum Computing seeks to harness massive parallelism in computation by examining many entangled quantum states simultaneously rather than individual classical states sequentially. It is anticipated there are a diverse range of applications particularly in previously unsolvable or lengthy computational problems. This is of particular importance for optimization, unstructured search, materials simulation, and logistics.

Oxford Instruments are at the forefront of enabling solutions to develop the hardware to meet R&D and scale-up challenges in the next stage of development of Quantum Computing. We offer comprehensive solutions that cover:

Technologies required for cryogenic environments and electronics
Detectors and spectroscopy for optical routes to quantum computing
State-of-the-art fabrication solutions for development and scale-up of qubits and quantum circuits.

Qubit Characterization and Qubit Scale-up

Advanced dilution refrigerator systems necessary for both early-stage qubit research and development and scaling towards commercial quantum computing solutions.
Dilution refrigerators, which provide millikelvin temperatures, are a critical part of the infrastructure requirements for the current generation of solid-state quantum computers.
Ultra-cold environment is required to access the quantum state and ensure that the qubit coherence time can be maintained for a sufficient period for practical computation.

	Qubit and Quantum Circuits Fabrication
Reliable and state of device fabrication solutions for the various approaches in hardware platforms to realize quantum computers. tailored to enable the development of robust qubits with long-lived quantum states and with possible execution of rapidly addressable quantum gates. Provide reliable pathways towards scaling up to fabricate a large set of interacting qubits and control elements.

Photonic Quantum Computing

Alternative approach to solid-state quantum computing, photonic quantum computing uses individual photons as qubits within an optical system.
Presents significant advantages, in that coherence times for entangled photons are long-lasting and can provide an increase in useful computation time of the system. As an additional advantage, it is not necessary to scale the photons to achieve greater qubit counts.
Each photon has multiple modes, such as frequency, polarization, time and location, all of which can be entangled and encoded simultaneously.

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iXon Ultra Blue EMCCD

Proteox

PlasmaPro 100 PECVD

PlasmaPro 100 Cobra ICP RIE Etch

iXon Ultra 888 EMCCD

Challenges and Solutions for Device Fabrication and Characterisation

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Quantum computing and qubit scale-up applications with Proteox

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Quantum Simulation Beyond Classical Simulation: Ultracold Ytterbium Atoms in an Optical Lattice

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Quantum Imaging

Fundamental research advances across the broad fields of quantum imaging feed directly into advanced domains such as quantum lithography, quantum communication, quantum computing and quantum sensing.

Oxford Instruments has solutions which are central to fundamental research on Entangled Photon Systems and Ultracold Quantum Gases. Quantum entanglement occurs when two photons remain connected, even over large distances, such that actions performed on the quantum state of one have an instant effect on the other, requiring the ability to accurately register single-photon events with high confidence and with high measurement rates. Similarly, the rich field of Quantum Gas studies, such as Bose-Einstein Condensates, benefits considerably from advanced detectors that can image fast dynamics of trapped atoms or ions, often in small quantities.

Discriminate Entangled Photon Pairs

Confident detection of photon events and entangled photon pairs form the basis of most efforts in quantum optics.
Extremely sensitive experiments, plagued by challenges such as photon losses at interfaces and unwanted sources of background photons.
Statistical scalability is also a challenge, with a requirement for increased numbers of parallel event detections as the quantity of correlated photons within the system is increased; so much so that pinhole raster scanning of the image area using a single point detector becomes unfeasible due to extremely long experiment times and high photon losses
Oxford Instruments provide state of the art ultrasensitive imaging solutions to enable cutting edge research and development within the field of quantum entanglement.

Quantum Ghost Imaging

Ghost Imaging is a technique whereby an image is formed from light that has never interacted with the object. In ghost imaging experiments, two correlated light fields are produced.
One of these fields illuminates the object, and the other field is measured by a spatially resolving detector. These complex measurements require reliable measurement of spatially and temporally correlated single photons.
Oxford Instruments Andor Technology’s Intensified Cameras are used in such heralding detection systems, providing time-gated registration of single-photon events across the full scene, avoiding the need to scan single-pixel detectors and offering a dramatic efficiency increase in the measurement of high-dimensional spatial entanglement.

Image Ultracold Quantum Gases

Studies of Quantum Gases, such as Bose-Einstein Condensates (BEC), benefit considerably from advanced detector performance that can image fast dynamics of trapped atoms or ions, held in MOT traps at temperatures close to zero Kelvin.
Oxford Instruments Andor Technology’s market-leading portfolio of EMCCD, CCD and sCMOS detectors offer diverse solutions for imaging of a variety of types of quantum gases, across a range of experimental systems and imaging modalities.

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iXon Ultra Blue EMCCD

iStar 340T CCD

iKon-M 934 CCD

iXon Ultra 888 EMCCD

Quantum Imaging with EMCCDs in Photo Counting Regime: A Proven Tool for Measurement of Quantum Features of Light

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Quantum Mechanics as Viewed wit a Camera

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Quantum Materials

Advances in quantum materials are critical to unlocking the next leap in performance of quantum devices. Oxford Instruments offer world-leading solutions for novel materials and device fabrication and characterization. Our solutions have been developed to meet the overarching requirements for atomic purity, stoichiometric accuracy, surface and interface smoothness and minimization of spurious two-level systems. Chip packaging and bonding is a crucial aspect of system integration made challenging by the high bandwidth of signals used and the need to pass signals on- and off-chip, to and from superconducting devices without loss of phase coherence.

	Materials Processing for Quantum Device Fabrication
Candidate devices have been developed using both superconducting, semiconducting, and wide bandgap materials. In the longer-term useful devices are likely to be hybrid structures requiring complex fabrication. Oxford Instruments offer state-of-the-art process solutions for the fabrication of key quantum device components across various platforms

	New Quantum Materials Fabrication & Characterization
New classes of materials have emerged in recent years with unique and often surprising properties. Examples include 2D materials, heavy fermion materials, and the edge conduction states in topological insulators and nanowires. Our solutions enable the fabrication and characterization of these novel materials.

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PlasmaPro 100 PECVD

PlasmaPro 100 Cobra ICP RIE Etch

Jupiter XR AFM

Ultim Max EDS

Symmetry S3 EBSD

alpha300 R – Raman Imaging Microscope

Spectrographs for UV, NIR & SWIR

Spectroscopy Cameras for UV to NIR and SWIR

Challenges and Solutions for Device Fabrication and Characterisation

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Correlative microscopy: challenges and solutions for data acquisition and analysis

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Characterization of Two-Dimensional Materials with Atomic Force Microscopy

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Measuring the Surface Roughness of Thin Films and Substrates with Atomic Force Microscopy

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Quantum Sensing

Quantum technologies carry the promise of enabling the next-generation of sensors and detectors which exploit quantum effects. Oxford Instruments provide user-friendly ultra-low temperature environments make this possible. In combination with our integrated magnet systems which caters to a wide range of variable magnetic field needs, enabling the next-generation of superconducting quantum sensors.

Quantum sensors also offer enhanced performance beyond the classical shot-noise limit. This may be through squeezed light in plasmonic sensors or by coupling to spin states in qubits such as NV centers in diamond. Better known quantum sensors include superconducting thin film devices such as SQUIDS, SQUIPS, nanowires, kinetic inductance detectors and bolometers. Oxford Instruments also provide underpinning technology in deposition and etch tools employed to create the quantum sensors of the future.

	Fabrication of Quantum Sensor Devices
Plasma Etching of Diamond Surfaces & Features Plasma Etching to Create Surfaces for Efficient Light manipulation RIE of materials etching for Superconducting sensors SiNx hard mask deposition, e.g. Si3N4

Environments and measurements solutions for SQUID sensors

Demand for accurate measurements at the nanoscale will continue to increase and Superconducting Quantum Interference Devices (SQUIDs) have been a key factor in the development and commercialization of ultrasensitive electric and magnetic measurement systems.
The study of small spin clusters, like magnetic molecules and nanoparticles, single electron, cold atom clouds, is one of the most stimulating challenges of applied and basic research of the next years.

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