Date: 10/18/2024
About this Forum:
Topic TBD.
About the presenters:
Photon Spot Inc. is a quantum technology provider that manufactures single photon detection systems, sub-Kelvin cryogenic systems, and performs R&D. Their products are primarily designed for applications in quantum information science and long-range free-space optical communications. Photon Spot was founded in 2009 by an MIT alum (Vikas Anant, EE PhD ’07) and has been bootstrapping on product sales and a few R&D contracts over the last 14 years. The company is located in Southern California near Pasadena.
Key Products and Technologies:
• Superconducting Nanowire Single-Photon Detectors (SNSPDs):
SNSPDs are highly sensitive devices capable of detecting individual photons with high efficiency, low dark counts, and low timing jitter. These detectors have been constantly improving in performance thanks to strong research efforts at MIT (under Prof. Karl Berggren), NIST, JPL, and other institutions around the world. Photon Spot was among the first companies to take this product to market and continues to bring key innovations to the field of single-photon detection.
• Cryogenic Systems:
Photon Spot provides cryogenic systems that are necessary for operating SNSPDs, as these detectors require very low temperatures to function. Photon Spot’s cryogenic systems are designed to maintain stable, ultra-low temperatures (<1 K), ensuring the optimal performance of their detectors. They specifically focus on making robust systems that easy to use, maintain, and upgrade. Photon Spot also provides cryogenic systems for other quantum applications, including for programmable voltage sources based on Josephson junctions used as calibration standards by NIST.
• Applications:
Photon Spot’s technologies are widely used in quantum optics and quantum information science, where precise photon detection is essential for experiments involving quantum entanglement, quantum cryptography, and other quantum phenomena involving single photons. Their products have also been provided to NASA for demonstrations of long-range optical communication at lunar distances and beyond.