Superconducting nanostripe single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) are currently the gold standard for detecting single photons of light.
These highly advanced devices have transformed the detection of weak light signals. Operating at extremely low temperatures, they use superconductivity to achieve sought-after photon detection efficiencies used in quantum communication, astrophysics, and biological imaging, as well as emerging applications in quantum computing and secure data transfer.
But there’s still room for improvement.
To answer this challenge, the University of Rochester’s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Science has partnered with digital quantum computing company SEEQC to create, manufacture, and distribute a next-generation smart sensor, designed for use in cutting-edge quantum applications such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution.
Current SNSPDs face a tradeoff between three key performance factors: speed, detection efficiency, and background “noise” (known as dark counts). Integrating digital circuitry directly on the computing chip could help solve this problem by improving bias control, distinguishing between real and false signals, and even measuring photon numbers and energies more accurately.
This is where SEEQC’s industry expertise meets the University of Rochester’s academic research capabilities.
As a spin-out of parent company HYPRES—the world’s leading developer of superconductor electronics—SEEQC has extensive experience in combining classical and quantum technologies to address the efficiency, stability and cost issues endemic to quantum computing systems. And as one of the leading engineering schools in the U.S., the Hajim School is uniquely equipped to advance transformative innovations.
By developing technology built on superconducting materials—and integrating single-photon detectors directly on the same chip as advanced digital processing circuits—the collaboration’s smart sensor addresses key limitations in existing technology. It can detect single particles of light (photons) with exceptional precision, and in turn, help bring the first commercially scalable, problem-specific quantum computing applications to market.
With initial help from a $50,000 Fuzehub Manufacturing Grant in 2022, the partnership transitioned an existing SNSPD model into a new simulation platform (WRSpice), fabricated prototype chips, and performed testing and characterization.
While designed for cutting-edge quantum applications (such as optical quantum networks, quantum computing, and secure data transfer systems like quantum key distribution), the sensors can also support more traditional uses that require extremely sensitive low-light detection, including medical imaging, surveillance, and scientific research.
Since initial development, the project has achieved excellent results.
SEEQC successfully fabricated the new chips, which were then tested and characterized by HYPRES. The devices performed as expected during cryogenic (ultra-cold) testing, which is a necessary condition for superconducting technology. During the course of this work (completed in 2024), SEEQC and the University of Rochester also joined the National Science Foundation’s DISCoVER (Design and Integration of Superconducting Computation for Ventures beyond Exascale Realization) Expedition research program, expanding their work into new areas of quantum interface development.
Since this initial success, SEEQC—which also has facilities in facilities in London, UK, and Naples, Italy—has expanded its work into new areas of quantum interface development, launched collaborations with major corporations IBM and NVIDIA, and grown its operations into a new 12,000-square-foot facility in Elmsford, N.Y.
This project has also led to $1 million in additional investments, $300,000 in increased and retained sales for Seeqc, and ongoing job creation and retention.
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