A Bi-CMOS electronic photonic integrated circuit quantum light detector | Science Advances

Complimentary metal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) integration of quantum technology provides a route to manufacture at volume, simplify assembly, reduce footprint, and increase performance. Quantum noise–limited homodyne detectors have applications across quantum technologies, and they comprise photonics and electronics. Here, we report a quantum noise–limited monolithic electronic-photonic integrated homodyne detector, with a footprint of 80 micrometers by 220 micrometers, fabricated in a 250-nanometer lithography bipolar CMOS process. We measure a 15.3-gigahertz 3-decibel bandwidth with a maximum shot noise clearance of 12 decibels and shot noise clearance out to 26.5 gigahertz, when measured with a 9–decibel-milliwatt power local oscillator. This performance is enabled by monolithic electronic-photonic integration, which goes below the capacitance limits of devices made up of separate integrated chips or discrete components. It exceeds the bandwidth of quantum detectors with macroscopic electronic interconnects, including wire and flip chip bonding. This demonstrates electronic-photonic integration enhancing quantum photonic device performance.