Grand Challenges of Photonics Session

Chairs

Paul Urbach, TU Delft (Netherlands)

Hans Peter Herzig, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, EPFL (Switzerland)

For the sixth time, a special session of EOSAM is dedicated to the Grand Challenges of Photonics. In this session, world-class speakers will discuss technologies which are revolutionary, uncommon and not realizable to date, but can pave the way for an even brighter future in optics and photonics.

Speakers

Marc Cayrel, European Southern Observatory, Germany     

ESO ELT: towards a 39 meter telescope

https://www.eso.org/sci/facilities/eelt/


 

Ronald Hanson, QuTech, Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands

The dawn of quantum networks

Entanglement – the property that particles can share a single quantum state - is arguably the most counterintuitive yet potentially most powerful element in quantum theory. The non-local features of quantum theory are highlighted by the conflict between entanglement and local causality discovered by John Bell. Decades of Bell inequality tests, culminating in a series of loophole-free tests in 2015, have confirmed the non-locality of Nature. Future quantum networks may harness these unique features of entanglement in a range of exciting applications, such as distributed quantum computation, secure communication and enhanced metrology for astronomy and time-keeping. To fulfill these promises, a strong worldwide effort is ongoing to gain precise control over the full quantum dynamics of multi-particle nodes and to wire them up using quantum-photonic channels.
Diamond spins associated with NV centers are promising building blocks for such a network as they combine a coherent electron-optical interface with a local register of robust and well-controlled nuclear spin qubits. Here I will introduce the field of quantum networks and discuss ongoing work with the specific target of realizing the first multi-node network wired by quantum entanglement.