Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche
PIs: Roberto Osellame and Roberto Leoni
The Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN) is part of the Italian National Research Council (CNR),which is the largest research public body in Italy. IFN-CNR consists of five sections located in Milan, Rome, Trento, Padua and Bari. The personnel include 59 staff researchers and several PhD students and post-doctoral fellows. IFN-CNR research activity embeds diverse fields such as integrated photonic devices, nano and microelectronic devices, materials, nanotechnologies and microfabrication, lasers and incoherent sources, synchrotron light and X-rays. In this project IFN-CNR participates with two sections, the one in Milan and the one in Rome. The Milan section has a strong expertise in femtosecond laser material processing and in particular in the direct writing of integrated optical circuits for the manipulation of non-classical photon states. The Rome sectionhas a strong expertise in the development of superconducting nanowires single photon detectors (SNSPDs) integrated with advanced optical cavities and passive quantum-optics circuits.
IFN-CNR has top-level micro/nanofabrication facilities: several femtosecond laser micromachining workstations, with state-of-the-art lasers and 3D translation stages, are available in Milan, while a 200 m2 clean room facility, with a 100 kV Electron Beam Litography system and all the tools needed for micro and nanofabrication, is available in Rome.
Roberto Osellame (IFN-CNR Milan)
IFN-CNR (Milan) has a strong expertise in the fabrication of integrated photonic circuits in glass by direct writing with femtosecond lasers. This technology provides high-quality devices with the unique possibility of implementing three-dimensional layouts. The use of this technology has proven to be extremely useful in developing new functionalities on chip, as partially polarizing directional couplers, polarization insensitive devices, stable interferometers and multiport 3D couplers. All these devices are key enabling components to produce advanced integrated quantum photonic circuits for quantum computation and simulation.
Link to the group page of IFN-CNR Milan (R. Osellame): http://www.mi.ifn.cnr.it/research/fs-micromachining
Roberto Leoni (IFN-CNR, Rome)
IFN-CNR (Rome) is involved on development of superconducting nanowires single photon detectors (SNSPDs) integrated with advanced optical cavities and passive quantum-optics circuits. The integration of the detection functionality on-chip is a key element of the project approach, since it enables very high efficiencies and scalability to unprecedented numbers of photons. Superconducting nanowires patterned on top of a ridge waveguides, as pioneered by partners TUE and CNR, are the most promising approach to single-photon and PNR (photon-number-resolving) detection in the near-IR wavelength range. These detectors are compatible with the integration of passive circuits, electro-optic modulators and single-photon sources based on single quantum dots.
Link to the group page of IFN-CNR, Rome (R. Leoni): http://www.roma.ifn.cnr.it/home
