A silicon nitride photonic platform integrated with Si detectors for classical and quantum applications (Invited Paper)

We present recent developments of a monolithically integrated Quantum Simulator (QS) platform where the silicon nitride quantum micro-photonic and the mature silicon microelectronic (CMOS, digital) functionalities are merged into a unique photonic-electronic platform. We will describe a 3D-integrated quantum simulator hardware, where (1) photonic quantum interference circuits are integrated on the same Si chip with (2) scalable arrays of single photon avalanche diodes (Silicon SPADs) operating at ~ 800nm and at room temperatures. Around this, we build an integrated system, in which on the “software level” quantum algorithms sustain the quantum simulation results from the hardware. In this last, a custom analog chip controls the QS module by managing the photon source, phase shifters which reconfigure the photonic circuits and the SPADs in order to control actively the quantum optical circuit. Finally, the output data are handled by the digital chip to feed the software algorithm.