ANALYSIS:WORLD OF QUANTUM
GasSight is a low-cost imager based on quantum technology that can produce real-time video of methane gas
new, exhibitable products.’ Padgett remarked that the
objectives he and his colleagues have had in going to industrial conferences have shifted over time as their research has materialised into such products. ‘We’d previously go in with a list of technologies that we’re looking for and walk the halls to see what was available, and while we’re still doing that to an extent, now we’re mostly in PR mode,’ he said. ‘We want to show the world that these technologies are now real, so real, in fact, that we’re prepared to put them in a case and ship them across the world to exhibit them!’ At its booth in Munich, QuantIC showcased its GasSight system, a low- cost imager developed in collaboration with M-Squared Lasers that can produce real- time video of methane gas. The system has applications in sectors such as oil and gas, building and construction, food processing, inspection of industrial plant and water treatment. It aims to fill a gap in the market for a low-cost, small-sized, low-power and highly portable remote gas detection system. The system uses a telecoms laser diode to illuminate a scene at 1.65µm – exactly the wavelength corresponding to the absorption of methane gas. This image of the methane cloud is overlaid upon a high resolution RGB image of the overall scene, giving a composite full colour image where the methane
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appears as a red cloud. ‘The prototype camera
has already demonstrated pure methane detection in a laboratory setting,’ remarked Padgett. ‘Our challenge will be to increase the sensitivity of the system so that its operational range can be increased to 3m or more. We will also explore the possibility of extending it to detect other gases.’ Also on display at QuantIC’s
booth was an ultra-low noise imaging system developed with the University of Bristol. This twin-beam light source harnesses nonlinear photon interactions in specially designed optical fibre to generate bright, visible- wavelength red and blue beams
“It’s not just research anymore, there are now real examples of products you can buy based on quantum technologies”
that are correlated in intensity and spectrum. This approach can suppress optical intensity noise below the classical shot-noise limit to reach the ultimate level of precision allowed by quantum mechanics, therefore enabling ultra-precise measurements at optical powers that compete with the performance of laser sensors. ‘Our twin-beam light source
takes advantage of the inherent correlations present in nonlinear optical processes to deliver intensity-noise-supressed measurements at high optical
QuantIC’s ultra-low noise imaging system is simple to use, highly stable and differs significantly from existing commercial quantum light sources in both operating wavelengths and light intensity
powers,’ said Padgett. ‘Novel light sources of this kind will be essential quantum photonic components in a range of future applications, including enhanced biomedical imaging and precision sensing of light- sensitive samples.’ QuantIC also exhibited an
ultra-sensitive, short-wave infrared (SWIR) microscope that requires only one photon per pixel, per frame, to record an image, making it well- suited to low-light imaging. The device has 50-times better noise sensitivity than current IR detector technology allows for. ‘This microscope has
several applications in both material instrumentation and life sciences,’ said Padgett. ‘For example, silicon-based components are opaque in visible light but transparent in the SWIR, allowing this system to inspect them without having to disassemble them. In life sciences, low-light imaging systems such as this are desirable as microscopes using too much light can destroy the cell samples under examination.’ And, of course, one further
goal that Padgett and his colleagues have when attending these events is to have valuable, in-person conversations. ‘We have £65m worth of ongoing collaborative projects at QuantIC, how do you think those came about? We spoke to people at conferences. And that’s not to say that all conversations start this way, but some do, and many ongoing conversations will continue at these events.’
Still on the lookout for new technologies Despite QuantIC’s years of research now having materialised into physical products, Padgett and his colleagues still keep an eye out at exhibitions for new photonics technologies that could further benefit their work. ‘The detection of single photons is central to many, many quantum systems and applications, and in the visible region of the spectrum, remarkable technologies now exist for this,’ Padgett said. ‘Take Hamamatsu’s Orca-Quest camera, which we were one of the first one’s to trial outside of Japan; every single pixel can count the number of photons, it’s incredible! ‘But it only works in
the visible, whereas many applications out there rely on the infrared, for example telecommunications, lidar and imaging systems. However, the kinds of single photon counting systems that exist for the visible region do not currently exist for the infrared. And so lots of activity can now be seen worldwide in extending the wavelength range at which you can do clever things with photons, such as counting and timing them using a camera rather than a single detector. So we’re always on the lookout for new single-photon detection technologies and the components that enable this – for example, filters that cater to the unique requirements of the quantum world.’ EO
May 2022 Electro Optics 13
QuantIC
QuantIC
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