DIU funds Nexus to revolutionize quantum sensing with advanced photonic integration
03.28.25
Nexus Photonics has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) to advance photonic integration and drastically reduce the size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) of quantum sensing systems.
Quantum sensors are transforming fields like positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT), as well as anomaly detection. Significant progress is being made in the scientific understanding and product development of quantum sensors, offering the promise of major improvements in precision, accuracy, and sensitivity compared to classical sensors. Many quantum sensors utilize lasers and photonic components to manipulate atoms and provide unprecedented precision.
One of the key challenges in scaling these systems is the trade-off between cost, size, weight, power consumption, and performance of current photonic components, which are often realized as individual units that are packaged separately. This trade-off limits the applicability of quantum sensors, especially when they are to be deployed in larger quantities.
Nexus Photonics has been specifically awarded the contract to break the limitations of this trade-off by advancing their proprietary photonic integration and optimizing it for quantum sensing.
“We will be prototyping application-specific photonic integrated circuits (ASPICs) combining a larger number of active components to provide full light generation engines with precise wavelength, power, and switching control - essentially replacing the whole photonic front-end with a single semiconductor chip made in a high-volume wafer-scale process”, said Dr. Tin Komljenovic, CEO of Nexus Photonics.
Nexus Photonics has developed an industry-defining photonic integration that enables photonic systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) comprising state-of-the-art lasers with amplifiers, modulators, photodetectors and high-performance “passive” components such as waveguides, couplers, filters, and resonators operating in broadband wavelength range from blue to infrared. This revolution is enabled by advanced heterogeneous integration that enables the use of multiple materials on the same wafer to provide best-in-class performance for each sub-component and is especially beneficial for quantum sensors that require sources operating outside traditional datacom and telecom wavelengths.
“Advanced (photonic) integration will enable orders of magnitude reduction in cost and SWaP, transforming the field and enabling state-of-the-art quantum sensors in a fraction of the volume. Nexus Photonics is extremely thankful for the continued support from the Department of Defense and Defense Innovation Unit, and we look forward to commercializing our platform and ASPICs in the quantum sensing space”, concluded Dr. Komljenovic.
