Flying Quantum Sparrow to Commercialize Light Matter Interface Technology.

Insider Summary

• Sparrow Quantum is positioning itself to be the market leader in quantum light matter interfaces for commercial quantum technologies.
• Sparrow Quantum technology is underpinned by a 20-year pioneering research project conducted with its quantum photonics research group at the renowned Niels Bohr Institute (NBI).
• Critical Quote: “Quantum Sparrow technology is rooted in more than two decades of research, which has given us a deep understanding of the physics of systems. This understanding has translated into the development of devices with exceptional specifications in terms of the quality of the emitted light particles. Our company is widely recognized as a leader in single-photon sources, and we have demonstrated the highest light-matter coupling efficiency in the world.” — Kurt Stokbro, CEO of Sparrow Quantum

While it appears to be a recent development, Sparrow Quantum is actually the culmination of decades of extensive fundamental research into the quantum point source with a solid-state single-photon source and a light-matter interface, according to the company’s founders.

Professor Peter Lodahlwho is now Sparrow Quantum’s chief science officer, initiated research into what would become Sparrow Quantum technology more than 20 years ago through a series of pioneering research projects conducted with his quantum photonics research group at a renowned research center Niels Bohr Institute (NBI) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Lodahl, who currently heads the Hy-Q Center of Excellence Hybrid Quantum Networks, was at the time studying light emission control using complex photonic nanostructures. What started as fundamental research is starting to uncover commercial possibilities, especially as the quantum technology market matures.

“Finally, we are starting to see that we have a very promising building block, which is this deterministic single photon source,” said Lodahl. “In other words, it’s a source where you push a button, and a photon comes out. The quality of the qubits, that is, the fidelity of the photons we generate, is very high. These results come from a deep physical understanding of the system and its application in the lab. We are seeing more and more that these deterministic light matter interfaces can now serve as the foundation of a wide range of applications.”

The company’s goal, which Lodahl formally founded in 2015, is as simple as its ambition: To become the market leader in quantum light matter interfaces to commercial quantum technologies.

The Sparrow Quantum team is making progress on that goal by getting the product on the market for researchers now and engaging with companies that will form their growing customer base, such as vendors and providers of photonic quantum computing systems, as well as quantum communications and quantum internet companies.

Today, the company’s flagship product is an on-chip single photon source that provides long strands of more than 100 single photons without loss of quality. These devices can emit more than 20 million single photons per second into an optical fiber, which customers can use directly for applications such as photonic quantum computing, quantum simulation, or quantum communications experiments.

“As a component supplier, our light matter interface is an integral part of a commercial quantum stack,” said Lodahl. “While our ultimate goal is to provide components for commercial quantum computing and communications systems, we currently serve the research community as our initial customer base.”

Sparrow’s Advantage
According to Lodahl, the Sparrow Quantum equipment offers its clients distinct advantages.
Perhaps the most important advantage is decades of basic research and years of experience applying the technology to commercial use. This experience provides a strong foundation of knowledge, expertise, and best practices that can be leveraged to optimize and enhance technologies for real-world applications.

The acquired expertise working with hardware and quantum materials development can be leveraged to optimize system performance and scalability for applications such as quantum repeaters, quantum internet, and quantum computing, according to Kurt StockbroCEO of Sparrow Quantum.

“Quantum Sparrow technology is rooted in more than two decades of research, which has given us deep understanding of physical systems,” said Stokbro. “This understanding has translated into the development of devices with exceptional specifications in terms of the quality of the emitted light particles. Our company is widely recognized as a leader in single-photon sources, and we have demonstrated the highest light-matter coupling efficiency in the world.”

The company has also created a deep understanding of architecture development, providing a reliable and efficient platform for implementing quantum technologies.

“We’ve always been very serious about the architecture,” says Lodahl. “We are very serious about figuring out how the technology evolves – how do we build a quantum repeater based on a deterministic photon emitting interface? How about a full quantum internet? Or a fault-tolerant photonic quantum computer? – it really takes a lot of theoretical understanding of the hardware as well to understand how to improve the technology in the most resource efficient way.”

The structure of the Quantum Sparrow technology itself is another advantage, according to Stokbro.

“One important detail of our technology is that it is planar, compared to other vertically emitted single photon sources,” says Stokbro. “The planar structure gives you some additional possibilities for integrating other features into the chip. For example, you can do filtering at the chip level, as well as integrate more components.”

The Quantum Sparrow has another geographic advantage.

“In Denmark, we are very, very strong in connecting theory to hardware development,” says Lodahl. “Also, quantum materials development is in a strong position in this ecosystem, and we can use this expertise in powerful ways,” said Lodahl.

Denmark is also home to a thriving quantum ecosystem, which will help the Quantum Sparrow grow. Taking this a step further, Sparrow Quantum benefits from Denmark’s position at the intersection of pharmaceutical and life science research, which is an area many experts hope quantum computing will improve.

Quantum Sparrow Vision
Based on these advantages, company officials are confident in their vision to become the market leader in light-weight interfaces. They also see a way forward to reach that goal.

Stokbro sees the initial low-hanging result as providing a high-quality single-photon source for the research community as well as for quantum simulations of quantum computing systems – and beyond.

“However, in the long term, there will be a need for a light matter interface for the quantum internet, to link quantum computers together.”

Sparrow Quantum’s immediate steps in realizing this vision are finding the right people with complementary skills to be able to compete in this highly technical field. They also believe in creating real and sustainable value in their products so that their customers and clients can achieve their own goals.

Sparrow Quantum recently announced a DKK 31 million — approximately $4.9 million US — seed establishment round.

For more information, navigate to Sparrow Quantum website.