Reference number : 172-2025-2026-Q4-1040899, amendment number : , agreement type : G, recipient legal name : University of Waterloo, recipient country : CA, recipient province : ON, recipient city : Waterloo|Waterloo, recipient postal code : N2L 3G1, program name english : Collaborative Science, Technology and Innovation Program - Collaborative R&D Initiatives, program name french : Programme de collaboration en science, en technologie et en innovation - Initiatives de collaboration en R-D, program purpose english : Collaborate on multiparty research and development programs to catalyze transformative, high-risk, high-reward research with the potential for game-changing scientific discoveries and technological breakthroughs in priority areas., program purpose french : Collaborer à des programmes multipartites de recherche-développement dans le but de profiter de la synergie entre la recherche transformatrice à haut risque et à haut rendement et le potentiel de découvertes scientifiques et de percées technologiques révolutionnaires dans des secteurs d’intervention prioritaires., agreement title english : Next Generation Single-Photon Detectors, agreement title french : Détecteurs de photons uniques de nouvelle génération, agreement number : 1040899, agreement value : 456830.0, agreement start date : 2026-03-18, agreement end date : 2028-03-31, description english : The Project goal is to enhance the single-photon detection efficiency of semiconductor single-photon avalanche diodes (SPADs) in the shortwave infrared region by integrating metasurface designs with the high quality InGaAs/InP APD heterostructures grown at NRC. The Project’s metasurface design, based on an array of semiconductor nanostructures, allows for enhancing the absorption efficiency and controlling the spatial absorption profile within a thinner absorption region than conventional SPADs. These features of metasurface SPADs will enable enhanced single-photon detection efficiency of ~80%, while also improving the timing resolution by an order of magnitude to tens of picoseconds. Surface passivation techniques will be developed for the metasurface SPAD device architecture to achieve the proposed device metrics. The portable, metasurface-based SPADs with enhanced efficiency and timing resolution impacts a broad range of applications including quantum lidar and imaging, quantum sensing, quantum networks, and defense., description french : L’amélioration de l’efficacité de détection repose sur l’intégration de métasurfaces dans des dispositifs SPAD.
Cette approche permet d’atteindre une meilleure résolution temporelle et ouvre des perspectives pour des applications en imagerie et en technologies quantiques., expected results english : In the short term, anticipated outcomes will be strengthened collaborations across industry, academia, and government to support research excellence. In the medium term, anticipated outcomes will be the development of new and potentially disruptive technologies with collaborators. In the long term, find collaborative solutions to public policy challenges and create stronger innovation systems., expected results french : À court terme, les résultats prévus seront des collaborations renforcées entre l'industrie, le milieu universitaire et le gouvernement pour soutenir l'excellence en recherche. À moyen terme, les résultats attendus seront le développement de nouvelles technologies potentiellement perturbatrices avec des collaborateurs. À long terme, trouver des solutions collaboratives aux défis des politiques publiques et créer des systèmes d'innovation plus solides., additional information english : nan, additional information french : nan, owner organization : nrc-cnrc, owner organization title : National Research Council Canada | Conseil national de recherches Canada