Design and setting up of optical probe station for characterisation of integrated/on-chip photonic components

Quantum photonic integrated circuits (QuPIC) constitutes the backbone of several large scale quantum computer and network systems. Hence, the discrete and bulk optics components used in current quantum optic systems have to be replaced with integrated/on-chip photonic components in order to realize any scalable quantum photonic systems. To design, test and improve various photonic components for such QuPIC systems we need optical probe stations, which is capable of automatic alignment and testing hundreds of devices in a single test run. Most of the commercial systems currently available are either very expensive or do not support all requirements for a specific quantum photonic system under consideration. In this project, we design and build an automated, customized photonic probe station specific to characterise photonic components for large scale, diamond color center based quantum photonic system. Such an automatic PIC testing setup is essential to improve statistical process control, scalable design implementation, optimization of fabrication process window, improved yield, and volume production [1, 2].

[1]. Charlie Lin, PhD Thesis, University of British Columbia, 2012
[2]. Sylwester Latkowski and et al., Open Standards for Automation of Testing of Photonic Integrated Circuits, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, Vol. 25, Issue. 5, 2019