Our work focusses on design, development, assembly, characterization and testing of new hardware systems and components for the Quantum Internet, based on Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) centers in diamond. Our optics expertise is mainly applied in the Quantum Internet Division.

Working towards our goal of building a quantum internet, we design and build optical systems and setups, and we conduct proof-of-principle scientific experiments to demonstrate their key required functionalities. As a next step, we focus on further development of these optical setups into a higher-TRL optical (sub-)systems or devices, that serve as building blocks for Quantum Internet. This including systems’ optimization, characterization, integration with other (sub-)systems, and their complete performance testing as a system.

Our optical engineering expertise can be divided into three core expertise’s:

• Optical Design
  We translate technical specifications of optical systems into optimal optical solutions based on free-space optical elements, fibers, photonic integrated circuits (PICs), etc. This also includes analyzing the effect of non-ideal components on the designed system’s performance (tolerance analysis). Such tolerance analysis is of prime importance for quantum optical systems, where low loss and high quantum coherence are crucial.
• Applied Optical Science
  We use our expertise in integrated and nano-photonics, nonlinear optics, fiber optical technologies, spectroscopy and imaging, and quantum optics, to contribute to the research, development and engineering of new hardware systems required for the realization of a quantum internet. Starting from fundamental proof-of-principle experiments we translate new scientific developments and setups into higher TRL technological solutions that are later used as key building blocks for Quantum Internet that the Quantum Internet Division is developing.
• Optical Engineering
  We focus on assembly, optimization/alignment, testing, and integration of complex optical setups and systems. Our up-to-date knowledge of optical and optomechanical components, tools, techniques and equipment allows us to build and test the high-performance optical systems required for building a prototype Quantum Internet. We have broad domain knowledge in other disciplines, including software development for hardware control and data analysis, which is crucial for development of user-friendly interface to high-performance optical systems.