Quantum Technologies
Changing the art of the possible

Contents
PC: A. Lasagni, Saarland University

Quantum Technologies
Building on our 60 years knowledge
and experience to develop new
capabilities for the quantum era

Quantum Materials
Deposition and etch tools enabling
development of functional materials
PAGE 4

PC: NPL, London

Quantum Computing
High performance ultra-low
temperature systems for NISQ typecomputation and simulation
PAGE 6

Quantum Technologies
Founded in 1959, Oxford Instruments hasgrown and flourished, exploiting technologies
developed in the first quantum revolution.
In our first 60 years, our technologies haveharnessed the quantum phenomena of‘coherence’ and ‘localization’. This includes
superconducting materials cooled to liquid
helium temperatures used to generate highmagnetic fields for medical imaging; lasers
and cameras for optical spectroscopy; X-ray
detectors used for chemical fingerprinting

Quantum Sensing

in electron microscopy; superfluids andthe generation of ultra-low temperatures;
single atoms imaged through atomic force
microscopy; and graphene nanostructures
deposited atom by atom.

quantum technology development and creating
societal impact through improved healthcare,energy generation and storage, biosciences
and informatics, functional materials, advanced
computing and global security.

In our next 60 years, the second quantum
revolution exploiting ‘entanglement’ and‘superposition’ will open new possibilities intiming; sensing; imaging; computing; andcryptography. Oxford Instruments iscommitted to playing a key role in driving

The world we live and work in will be
revolutionized through quantum technologies
and, Oxford Instruments want to be yourpartner on that journey.

Sensors and devices enabling
navigation, healthcare and thedigital economy
PAGE 8Quantum Imaging
Seeing the invisible using low
photon count cameras
PAGE 10

Quantum Solutions
Supply Chain, Solutions and Services
for quantum applications andcollaborative development
PAGE 12

Quantum Community
Customers, partners, suppliers andemployees developing a quantum
technologies ecosystem
PAGE 14

Page 3

Quantum Materials
processes. Systems integration will also entail
elaborate requirements for read, write state
control as well as error correction and fast
memory access local to the processor chip.
Similarly, low temperature detectors for opticalquantum computing and simulation, astronomy
and medical imaging require readout mechanisms
to enable pixel array scaling with digital anddynamic performance carrying spectroscopic andspatially resolved data sets.
Across these classes of materials there are
overarching requirements for atomic purity,
stoichiometric accuracy, depth and verticality of
etch, feature size and density of surface element.
Chip packaging and bonding is a crucial aspectof system integration made challenging by thehigh bandwidth of signals used and the needto pass signals on and off chip, to and fromsuperconducting devices without loss of phasecoherence.

New classes of materials have emerged in recent
years with unique and often surprising properties.
Examples being single atomic layer graphene andits derivatives, and the edge conduction states in
topological insulators and nanowires.
Furthermore, as quantum computing has developed
as a potential disruptive technology in the highperformance computing sector, so a number ofmaterial classes have emerged as qubit candidates.
Candidate devices have been developed using bothsuperconducting and semiconducting materials.
However, in the longer-term useful devices are likely
to be hybrid structures requiring complex fabrication

The base element of superconducting electronics
are Josephson junctions. These are typicallyformed creating normal metal or insulating layers
between two superconducting elements, oftenwith an oxide of the superconducting film as thebilayer.
Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology havedeveloped over 7000 process solutions acrossa range of materials using cutting edge atomic
layer, plasma and ion beam etching anddeposition technology. For quantum technologies,
we specialize in tailored processing solutions
for both quantum information processing
and quantum sensing. These include leadingedge processes such as; precision Si, metals
and III-V semiconductor etch, deposition ofsuperconducting NbN, TiN and diamond etch. We

also have expertise in fabrication process of
low loss integrated photonic components
for optical quantum technologies including;smooth sidewall cryogenic etch andpassivating conformal ALD oxide deposition.

Deposition and etch tools enabling
development of functional materials

Impact through applications

Simulation

Cryptography

Photonics

Healthcare

First described by
Richard Feynman, qubits
can be used to simulate
molecules as they arequantum entities just likethe atoms they would
seek to mimic.
Drug discovery, protein
folding, catalysis andbattery modellingare likely candidate
problems to be tackledusing quantum
computing. Photon fields
using Ti Sapphire lasers
show early promise.
Companies are alreadyexperimenting withquantum simulation toaccelerate lengthy andcostly processes.

At the heart ofcryptographic systems
are random number
generators. To ensure
true randomness, seednumbers and algorithms
can be replaced bya quantum physicalprocess. InP lasers
and InGaAs avalanche
photodiodes are used
to generate and detectrandom photon streams.
Telecoms and financial
services organizations
have establishedprograms for disasterrecovery and securecommunications in place
today using quantum
key distribution.

The use of light totransfer and store
information has
revolutionized our world.
Chip scale photonic
circuits are enabling
quantum computing,
optical switching,memory and lightfield qubit arrays toperform computationand simulation.
Miniaturization ofcomponents, systems
integration and reductionin power consumption
play a critical role
when designingphotonic architectures
impacting in quantum
technologies.

Semiconductor
technology has a
growing role in global
healthcare enablingunderstanding, discovery
and treatment of disease,making healthcare
more affordable andefficient, in and out of
the clinic. Biosensors
transform biochemicalsignals into physicalones that can correlatewith the concentrationof target species. These
active components
are fabricated using
processes for electronic,
photonic or MEMS based
sensors combined withsurface functionalization.

Page 5Maintaining precision and accuracy of pulse
shape is challenging. Scaling engineeringsolutions to ensure low noise, wide band
attenuated input lines and low impedance,
low noise amplified output lines is required.
Low noise performance, modularity andlong-term reliability are features of Oxford
Instruments NanoScience’s enhanced cabling
solutions for quantum computation.

High performance closed-cycle coolers
enable cryogen free mK temperatures
to be readily achieved with large
sample volumes, high cooling powers
and significant wiring assemblies forhigh line count applications such as
quantum computing.

Quantum Computing seeks to harness massive
parallelism in computation by examining manyentangled quantum states simultaneously rather
than individual classical states sequentially.
It is anticipated there are a diverse range ofapplications particularly in previously unsolvable or
lengthy computational problems. This is of particularimportance for optimization, unstructured search,materials simulation and logistics.
In the near future quantum annealers, simulatorsand so called Noisy Intermediate Scale Quantum
machines (NISQ) with fifty to a few hundred qubits
are likely to prove both useful and commercially
viable. Whether they will demonstrate quantum
supremacy as a general-purpose machine or specificapplication functionality compared to classicalequivalents is yet to be determined.

Many of the leading candidate qubit contenders
require a low temperature environment for operationand to screen out noise sources. These noise sources
both on and off chip cause decoherence andincreased error rates. Fully fault tolerant quantum
computers are expected to require a million qubits ormore and this remains some decades in the future.
In the meantime, low temperature performanceand error avoidance is critical to deliver a useful andusable NISQ machine.

Full stack architecture

Quantum Computing
High performance low temperaturesystems for NISQ typecomputation and simulation

Impact through applications

Materials Modelling

Optimization

As with materials
simulation; drug
discovery, protein
folding, catalysis andbattery modellingare likely candidate
problems to be tackledusing quantum
computing. Rather thansimulating materials
using qubits, modelling
utilises computational
techniques that lendthemselves to quantum
computing over classicalcomputing to extend
the range of species
that can be investigatedfor both the speed
and accuracy of thecomputation.

Many classes ofproblems cannot be
solved analytically. These
classes of problems arewidespread in logistics,
medicine and finance. As
the number of variables
in a problem grows, theserial nature of classicalcomputing stalls. A
270 variable problem
already outstrips thenumber of atoms in theuniverse. The parallelismof quantum computing
allows multi-variable
optimization that could
impact applications suchas flight scheduling,traffic flow and cancer
radiotherapy treatment.

Database Search
Relational databasesearching withstructured datasets isa requirement of Big
Data applications fromthe high street to CERN.
Unstructured datasets
such as text, multimedia and language
can prove difficult tosearch or impossible
depending on its size.
Quantum computing
offers the possibility of
optimal unstructured
search techniques using
Grover’s Algorithm.
Security and drug
discovery are candidate
areas for development.

SecurityIn the absence ofquantum cryptography,
quantum computers
could pose a threat toencryption mechanisms.
RSA-2048 encryption
would go from many
millions of years to
break on a classicalmachine to days on
a quantum computerwith 2000 qubits and
GHz clocking speed.
To counter this threat,
quantum technologies
are also being employed
to establish noncomputational security
protocols, that will remain
secure despite progress inquantum computation.

The energy level separation of the qubit 1’s and 0’s
at the low temperatures required for operation are
typically in the GHz frequency range, with carefully
shaped nano second pulses required to control thecomputational operations.

Page 7

Quantum Sensing
Sensors and devices enabling navigation,
healthcare and the digital economy

As sensors become smaller, quantum effects have agreater influence over the behaviour of the device,its properties and sensitivity. Moreover, systems
with discrete energy levels may be used to enhancesensitivity beyond conventional methods.

GaAs/AlGaAs layerinterface on 2DEG

300 nm Nb etched to
SiO2 for superconducting
electronics

GaAs/AlGaAs photonic
cavity etch

Deep Si etch nanowires
formed from dense 40 &60 nm pillars

Precision measurements have importance acrossall areas of research and industry. Metrology andmeasurements are of critical importance in nanofabrication and other industrial manufacturing
processes where the suitability, calibration and qualityof the measurements is critical to the success of theoperation. Poor quality measurements impact on form,
fit and function as well as scrap and rework costs.
Dynamic range, resolution, precision and accuracy are
the cornerstones of quality measurements.
Quantum sensors offer enhanced performance
beyond the classical shot noise limit. This may bethrough squeezed light in plasmonic sensors or bycoupling to spin states in qubits such as NV centres
in diamond. Better known quantum sensors include
superconducting thin film devices such as SQUIDS,SQUIPS, nanowires, kinetic inductance detectors andbolometers.
Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology provides
underpinning technology in deposition and etch tools
employed to create the quantum sensors of the future.
Andor Technologies, an Oxford Instruments company,
offers integration of sensors operating at the quantum
limit for photonic and quantum optics applications.

Etched grating coupler
and taper waveguideon SOI

Etched strip waveguideon SOI with clean andsmooth sidewall for low
propagation loss

Impact through applications

Battery Technology

Life Science

Brain Imaging

Digital Economy

Hydrogen has thepotential to be an
exceptional green fuelproduced in a carbonfree cycle. However,storage capacity limits
implementation, range
and usability for electricvehicles. Organometallic compounds
can aid the absorption
and release of hydrogen
within a fuel cell. Oxford
Instruments’ opticalcryostats, cameras
and spectrographs areused to understandthe thermodynamic
processes underpinning
this technology.

Genomics,
bioinformatics andmedical imaging are
examples whereverlarger datasets are
generated fromincreasingly complex
workflows. Quantum
imaging is enhancing
the data collected
and the inspection
techniques employed,
while quantum
computing andmachine learning areat the forefront of data
search, analysis andcomputation across thelife sciences.

Multi-modal imaging
techniques such as
MEG, EEG, CT and
fMRI are uncovering
greater understandingof the brain andconditions such as
epilepsy, concussion,
dementia and
Alzheimers. Quantum
sensors, ultra-sensitive
to brain function
through magnetic fieldmeasurement andmapping across a rangeof frequencies andtimescales, are enabling
non-invasive medical
research into localized
brain function.

Micro/Nano
Electromechanical
Systems (M/NEMS) andSensors have become
well established withmultiple devices being
used in consumer
and commercial
products. This
includes smartphones,
automotive, game
consoles, navigation
aids, drones, andbiomedical devices. Thisis set to increase, as
the Internet of Things(IoT) matures beyond its
current capabilities.

Page 9Quantum Imaging

Quantum entanglement occurs when
two particles remain connected, even overlarge distances, such that actions performedon the quantum state of one have an instant effecton the other; the quantum state must be described
for the system as a whole, which is at the root of
the growing fields of quantum communications,
cryptography, computation and microscopy.
Imaging studies of entangled photon systems require
ultrasensitive array detectors capable of registeringand counting single photon events and photon
pairs with superb discrimination from backgroundnoise events. Experimental workflow is furthermore
enhanced through the ability to image with a rapid
frame rate, thus accelerating the rate of image
construction through photon counting.
The cooled EMCCD with back illumination minimizes
spurious noise sources. It provides the single photon

and photon pair discrimination characteristics,
required for successful, high throughout detectionin these most demanding of photon starved
experiments, combining single photon sensitivity
with > 90% quantum efficiency. Furthermore, single
photon sensitivity can be maintained without having
to sacrifice fast frame rate capability, a common
trade-off of traditional CCD technology.
Entangled photon pairs used in quantum imaging
are enabling us to see the invisible. One photon isused to image an object, the other is detected by
the EMCCD camera (a). This ‘spooky action at a
distance’ allows irradiation in a frequency domainaligned to the object of interest, whilst imaging
with a frequency best suited to the sensitivity of thedetector.
EMCCD cameras have also been widely used by
the Bose Einstein Condensate (BEC) and Cold
Atom community for more than two decades formeasuring absorption signal of Rubidium BECs using
785 nm lasers (b).

a) Ghost imaging using
entangled photonsb) BEC developing out ofcold atom cluster

In such systems particles that obey Fermi
statistics and cannot occupy the same statein space, time and energy collapse to form
the BEC, where the atoms share the same
quantum state at a few hundred nK when
optically cooled.

Seeing the invisible using
low photon count cameras

Andor Technologies, part of the Oxford
Instrument Group, are global leaders in
the development and manufacture of highperformance scientific digital cameras forquantum imaging.

Impact through applications

Autonomous
VehiclesObject detection,
analysis and validation
for AV is challenging.
Training imaging
systems to recognize
hazards in bad weather,with wide field of view,
across uncharted terrain
and changing roadconditions presents
further problems.
Quantum enhanced
imaging techniques andAI control networks
could enable lidar, GPS
and optical detection
improvements in costeffective ways to makeAV a reality.

Astronomy

Research

Communications

Since 2000 over
3,800 diverse types of
exoplanets have been
discovered.
Across large fieldsof view in the sky,detection requires
significant photometricvariability and precision
with an ultra-low noise
floor. Furthermore,
distortions caused byatmospheric turbulence
can be mitigated using
adaptive optics where adeformable mirror andhigh-speed camera areused to provide rapid
feedback minimizing
image distortion.

Structural andchemical spectral
analysis along withmicroscopy imaging of
biomaterials, polymers
and semiconductors
are commonplace inthe research market.
Large field of view,high resolution and
excellent dynamic
range are necessary
to ensure optimal
low light photon
counts. Furthermore,nanosecond time
resolution and superioracquisition rates deliver
sensitivity down to asingle photon.

Quantum Key
Distribution (QKD)
is a significant
development topic
within the cryptography
landscape. However,
QKD suffers fromdistance limitations withquantum amplifier andrepeater units necessary
within any future
network architecture
and protocol design
to enable long range
communications
without loss ofcoherence and for‘over the hill’ ranging
for mobile and secure
networks.

Page 11

Quantum Solutions
Case Study – teleportation andquantum communications

Through a series ofcollaborative R&D programs withleading academic and industry partners,
Oxford Instruments has, and continues to,engage in a number of early market prototyping
projects. These have ranged from rapid qubit
screening tools to early adoption of graphene fortable-top metrology.

Case Study – rapid qubit screening
Coupled spin states in quantum dot nano-structuresin 2DEG GaAs showed early promise as a scalable
qubit candidate. Gate deposition and QD tuning
were challenging with many devices requiring
screening, before long term measurements were
undertaken.

Working closely with research teams from
Copenhagen, New York, San Diego, Tokyo,
Sydney and Delft as part of the MQCO IARPA
project, a new concept sample exchangemechanism was developed integrating GHz
control lines, thermal management and qubit
control circuitry for mK operation.

Case Study – graphene for metrology
Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, has avery strong quantization of the Hall resistance at
5 T and 4 K. Using specially-designed graphenedevices, NPL, Graphensic and Oxford Instruments
partnered to develop a turn-key table-top
quantum Hall system for high-accuracy resistancemetrology combining simple, reliable operation
with low running costs.

Design model of quantum teleportation system between two superconducting quantum devices operating below
50 mK with inter-fridge communication circuit also held at mK temperatures along its length.

As part of the European Quantum Flagship
QMiCS programme, Oxford Instruments is a
key partner supporting the development ofa quantum microwave local area network.
This architecture will enable quantum
communication protocols such as teleportation
between two superconducting quantum nodes.
This approach has future applications for
distributed quantum computing and radar-stylequantum sensing with microwaves.

Supply Chain, Solutions and Services
for quantum applications andcollaborative development

Impact through applications

Cryogenics

Qubit Control

EnergyMEMS and Sensors

Millikelvin temperatures
without the use of
liquid helium and withintermediate cooling at
multiple temperature
stages are routine acrossthe physical sciences. For
many of the leading qubit
candidates, operation
at mK temperatures is
a must. For qubit anddetector readout, as
well as single photon
detection, quantum
limited cryo-electronics
are essential. Low power,
compact footprint andreliable components are
key to successful systems
integration.

As NISQ machines growand qubit scaling evolves
both in numbers andcross qubit coupling, so
the challenge of system
integration and control
grows. Low temperature
qubits require GHz
frequency pulse sequences
to control their operation.
Scalable engineeringsolutions to ensure
low-noise, wide-band
attenuated input lines andlow-impedance, low-noise
amplified output lines,
are offered by Oxford
Instruments’ dilution
refrigeration cabling
solutions.

Ever increasing
environmental demands
are being placed onenergy generation,
which is leading todiversification of energy
sources, building a
low carbon economy.
This is driving interestin battery technology
and alternative energy
sources, such as windand solar. Photovoltaic(PV) and thermoelectric
devices are developing
rapidly, and branching
into many varying fields
including PV polymers andtraditional semiconductor
based PV devices.

Nano-mechanical andsuperconducting phaseslip quantum devices aswell as more conventional
SQUID devices have beenreadily adopted whendeveloping sensitive
readout architectures.
With the increased
demands for energy
efficient, smaller andcost-effective devices, acomprehensive selectionof fabrication tools andprocess solutions such as
ICP, PECVD and Ion Beam
Etch is essential.

Page 13

Quantum Technologies
The Quantum Technologies landscape has evolved andgrown rapidly in recent years on the back of significant public
and private funding. Fundamental technologies, skills andtraining, market feasibility, industry readiness and end user
applications have been developed as a result of this investment.
Governments and global corporations have flagship projects,
start-up ventures have been established and new researchgroups have been formed through academic and industrial
partnership.

Quantum Community
Customers, partners, suppliersand employees developing aquantum technologies ecosystem

Oxford Instruments recognise the impact Quantum Technologies
will have on society and through our footprint in both researchand industrial markets seek to play a significant role in thecommercialization of these tools and techniques.
By engaging with our customers, partners and suppliers we seek
to create value through our solutions and demonstrate thought
leadership across the quantum sector. Our long-establishedexpertise in materials fabrication, characterisation, optics andcryogenics gives us a unique insight into this growing landscape.
For our employees, this makes Oxford Instruments an exciting
and challenging place to work, and our best brains are focusedon solutions that will change the art of the possible.

Page 15

Quantum Technologies
Building on our 60 years knowledge and experience todevelop new capabilities for the quantum era

Quantum Materials
Deposition and etch tools enabling development offunctional materials

Quantum Computing
High performance ultra-low temperature systems for
NISQ type computation and simulation

Quantum Sensing
Sensors and devices enabling navigation, healthcare andthe digital economy

Quantum Imaging
Seeing the invisible using low photon count cameras

Quantum Solutions
Supply Chain, Solutions and Services for quantum applications
and collaborative development

Quantum Community
Customers, partners, suppliers and employees developing aquantum technologies ecosystem

Visit www.oxinst.com/quantum or email info.oiplc@oxinst.com
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