Design and Fabrication Challenges of Integrated Optical Circuits for Quantum Computing Applications

The paper presents current design issues, limitations, and fabrication challenges towards the development of hybrid integrated optical circuits with embedded single photon sources, which are critical components for future quantum computing, sensing, and communication systems. Optical nanowires with embedded quantum dots (NWQD) are very promising single photon sources, with several reported results of integration in high index platforms like silicon or silicon nitride. Silica on silicon is a favorable platform for optical computing, providing the high degree of customization when combined with direct laser writing techniques for definition of optical structures with refractive index modification. However, the low ~10
^-3
achievable refractive index contrast imposes strict limitations on the compatibility with NWQD resulting in general in low coupling efficiency as shown in this work. Consideration of several design and fabrication issues demonstrates the potential for NQWD integration in laser written silica based optical circuits with adequate efficiency for practical applications.