A single photon—the smallest possible unit of light—can now be caught and counted with detectors that work five times faster than previous versions. This international collaboration links detector specialists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech with application experts at Heriot-Watt University to push those detectors into real-world use. The problem is that many emerging quantum technologies depend on reliably detecting individual photons, but existing detectors are too slow, too small, or too noisy for practical tasks. The JPL-Caltech team has already built superconducting nanowire detectors that break those limits, offering both record-breaking speed and the largest detector arrays yet demonstrated. If this collaboration succeeds, those detectors will be tested in concrete applications: single-photon LIDAR that can see through fog or foliage, free-space quantum communications that could link satellites, and ultra-high-dimensional quantum imaging that encodes far more information in a single light beam than conventional methods allow. The work feeds directly into major UK research initiatives in quantum sensing and communications, aligning with national priorities for next-generation infrastructure. No immediate consumer product will emerge, but the project aims to turn a laboratory breakthrough into a tool that other researchers and engineers can actually use.
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Single-photon detection is the ability to capture the single quantum of light and is rapidly emerging as the critical capability for numerous emerging quantum technologies, as well as a range of new low-light sensing applications. This International Centre-to-Centre Collaboration proposal links three centres of excellence in quantum photonics to produce a collaboration designed to yield sustained world-class research in the field by combining their complementary expertise. The teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) working with academic partners at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) have made significant advances in the field of superconducting nanowire optical detectors in recent years, providing world-class temporal performance (> 5 times better than previously) and the largest format detector arrays yet demonstrated. The link to Heriot-Watt University offers a unique opportunity to use these state-of-the-art detectors in emerging quantum technology application areas such as single-photon and quantum-enhanced LIDAR, free-space and satellite-based quantum communications and in the use of quantum entanglement in ultra-high dimensional quantum imaging and communications. This EPSRC International Centre-to-Centre Collaboration affords a rare opportunity to enhance several world-leading research strands at Heriot-Watt, and make a significant, complementary and sustained contribution to major UK collaborative research initiatives, particularly the EPSRC SPEXS Programme Grant and the EPSRC Quantum Technology Hub network, strongly in line with UK research priorities.
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