Quantum
16.06.2025 2025-08-20 17:51Quantum
Quantum Technology
solutions
Menhir Photonics is a key enabler of quantum technologies for both industry and science. Our MENHIR-1550 and MENHIR-1030 lasers are the workhorses at the forefront of high end applications, providing precision timing solutions critical for the next generation of quantum technologies, enabling robust and long-distance quantum networking and advanced quantum information processing. Our advanced systems are designed to meet the rigorous demands of quantum communication, including entanglement distribution over fiber and free-space channels, and are instrumental in key quantum applications worldwide:
- Quantum network synchronization
- Photonic quantum computing platforms
- Quantum sensing and metrology
- High flux single- and entangled-photon generation
Quantum Network
synchronization and precision photonics
High-fidelity quantum operations, such as entanglement swapping between separate sources via an optical Bell state measurement, necessitate precise temporal overlap of photonic qubits. This is particularly challenging in satellite-based entanglement distribution where relative motion, channel effects, and propagation delays must be meticulously addressed.
Current advancements demonstrate the need for synchronization with approximately 0.1-ps precision, especially for spectrally broad source photons with ~1-ps durations. This becomes even more critical for long-distance satellite-based quantum communication, spanning hundreds to thousands of kilometers, involving platforms with relative motion around 7km/s.
Quantum Networks enabled by Menhir lasers
Menhir Photonics' MENHIR-1550 lasers are the enabling technology behind a robust precision synchronization method developed for free-space entanglement distribution, as demonstrated by our collaborators at MIT Lincoln Laboratory (MITLL). This method utilizes a dual-uplink architecture where photons from entanglement sources at two ground locations interact in an optical Bell-state measurement implemented on a satellite in a low-earth orbit (LEO).
Key aspects of this synchronization control technique, powered by MENHIR-1550 lasers, include:
- Independent Entanglement Sources: Our collaborators' approach uses independent entanglement sources at each ground location. These are supplemented with a synchronization signal for feedback control from a timing discriminant measured at the spacecraft.
- Sub-picosecond Precision: Achieved even in scenarios with large Doppler shifts and high Doppler-rate-of-change, characteristic of ground-to-satellite links.
- Laboratory Testbed Validation: The system is being implemented and tested in a laboratory environment, featuring 1-GHz repetition rate 1550-nm band entanglement sources generating ~10-MHz source entanglement rates with few-ps photon pulse lengths, enabled by Menhir's high-performance lasers.
- HOM Coincidence Measurement: Synchronization is achieved by feeding timing information, measured at the satellite using coincidence counts from a Hong-Ou-Mandel (HOM) interferometer, back to the ground stations. This information allows for the adjustment of the source mode-locked laser (MLL) pulse repetition rate (PRR) to maintain precise alignment of signals at the satellite.
Find out how to characterize the MENHIR-1550 optical frequency comb using APEX Technologies’ high-resolution optical spectrum analyzer in our latest Whitepaper.
Menhir Photonics’ product strengths
Lowest timing-jitter on the market
Scalability for volume production
Ultra-high reliability and long lifetime in harsh environments
MENHIR-1550 and MENHIR-1030 SERIES
Menhir Photonics' added values
Menhir Photonics offers modelocked lasers with the lowest phase-noise available on the market today combined with extreme reliability. The graph/figure below shows a typical phase noise measurement for a free-running laser of the MENHIR-1550 series, measured on the 10 GHz carrier i.e. the 40th harmonics (250 MHz pulse repetition rate). Note that the noise floor of the measurement limits the integrated timing jitter to approximately 500 as (attoseconds).
Phase noise power spectrum of a free-running MENHIR-1550 250MHz laser measured at the 10 GHz harmonics.
Integrated timing jitter starting at 10 MHz for the same free-running laser.
All lasers of the MENHIR-1550 and MENHIR-1030 SERIES have an optional fast repetition rate tuning with a modulation bandwidth of >50 kHz for repetition rate locking or synchronization. In addition, there is also the option for fast modulation of the pump current.
Menhir Photonic’s lasers reach unmatched levels of industrial quality and environmental stability. It has been excessively tested for vibrations, shocks and other external disturbances (space and aerospace related standard tests). For integration into space-critical applications, customized small-sized versions are available.
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