Molecular Quantum Light Sources (QuantaMol)

Quantum technologies represent the future paradigm for efficient data communication, optical computing, cybersecurity, and metrology. The recent 2022 Nobel Prize in Physics has opened a new era in this field, particularly for quantum photonics, which relies on the quantum properties of light. Nonclassical sources of light such as on-demand single-photon emitters and entangled-photon generators allow for quantum information processing, ultra-efficient long-distance data communication and fascinating phenomena including information “teleportation”. However, the real-world application of the revolutionary physical principles behind quantum photonics requires suitable materials engineered by chemistry and nanoscience. QuantaMol proposes a disruptive fundamental research toward the development of integrable single and entangled photon sources based on molecular materials. The project is motivated by the urgent need for novel quantum sources with unprecedented versatility, flexibility and performance to overcome the limits imposed by the use of traditional inorganic materials. This goal will be pursued by resorting to molecular materials, based on lanthanide and/or transition metal ions with organic moieties, characterized by tunable linear downshifted emission as well as non-linear optical properties enabling on-demand single photons and entangled photon pairs/triplets generation. Such flexible and processable molecular materials will replace traditional quantum photon sources based on (bulk) inorganic crystals allowing for the direct integration of wavelength-tunable quantum sources on current silicon platforms and photonic integrated circuits. The proposed progress will be gained through cutting-edge synthesis techniques and advanced characterization methods integrated with nano-photonics engineering strategies. The materials and methods developed in this project will lead to photon sources with competitive performance in terms of coherence, efficiency, scalability, and cost. This will lead to a fundamental breakthrough in the development of quantum technologies, paving the way to bring them out of the laboratory into the real world. This high risk/high gain project will benefit from the support of highly relevant international EU and non-EU academic actors who will enable the full achievement of the expected goals and will reinforce the positioning and ambitions of QuantaMol in the international panorama, also strengthening the competitiveness of the expected results, the degree of the technological innovation, and the prospects for future development. The outcomes and targets of QuantaMol are foreseen to lead Italian and European research at the forefront of the second quantum revolution, thus contributing to Europe’s position as a global leader in the field.