3PEAT will develop a powerful photonic integration technology with all size, functionality and quality credentials in order to help a broad range of optical applications like optical switching and remote sensing, to achieve a strong commercial impact. In order to do so, the project will introduce a fully functional 3D photonic integration platform based on the use of multiple waveguiding layers and vertical couplers in a polymer technology (PolyBoard), as a means to disrupt the integration scale and functionality. Moreover, 3PEAT will combine this powerful 3D photonic technology with a silicon-nitride platform (TriPleX), via the development of a methodology for the deposition and processing of multilayer polymers inside etched windows on TriPleX chips. In parallel with the development of this hybrid 3D technology, 3PeaT will bring a number of key innovations at the integration and component level relating to: a) the heterogeneous integration of PZT films on TriPleX platform for development of phase shifters and switches for operation up to 50 MHz, b) the development of a disruptive external cavity laser on the same platform with linewidth less than 1 kHz, c) the development for the first time of an integrated circulator on PolyBoard with isolation more than 25 dB, and d) the development of flexible types of PolyBoards for the purpose of physical interconnection of other PICs. This enormous breadth of innovations can remove the current limitations and unleash the full potential of optical switching and remote sensing and ranging applications. The main switching module that will be fabricated will be a 36×36 optical switch with 20 ns switching time and possibility for power and cost savings of almost 95% compared to standard electronic solutions. The main sensing module on the other hand will be a disruptive Laser Doppler Vibrometer (LDV) with all of its optical units, including its optical beam scanning unit, integrated on a very large, hybrid 3D PIC.

Quantum communication is recognised as one of the pillars for the second quantum revolution thanks to its unique potential for information-theoretical data security. Turning this promise into tangible assets depends however, on the availability of high-performance, compact and cost-effective modules for practical implementations. UNIQORN is a well-orchestrated design and manufacturing framework aiming to advance the quantum communication technology for DV and CV systems by carefully laying out each element along the development chain from fabrication to application. Component-wise, UNIQORN will leverage the monolithic integration potential of InP platform, the flexibility of polymer platform and low-cost assembly techniques to develop quantum system-on-chip modules in a cheap, scalable and reproducible way. UNIQORN will deliver bright (10M pairs/s/mW/THz) heralded, entangled and squeezed light sources with 70-fold size reduction and almost 90% cost savings, room-temperature arrayed SPADs and a 10-GHz CV receiver with low-noise TIAs. Fully functional systems based on these assets will include: (i) a network adapter card with integrated real-time QRNG engine, (ii) the first DPS transmitter as pluggable SFP module for low-cost 1-kb/s QKD, and (iii) novel oblivious transfer and quantum FPGA systems. Network-integration and system evaluation in real fibre networks will be enabled by quantum-aware software defined networking and field trials in the live Smart-City demonstrator Bristol-is-Open. The power of the developed ecosystem will be also validated by pushing current QKD-centric work into higher grounds, and demonstrating one-time programs and secure database access through oblivious transfer. The trans-disciplinary approach of UNIQORN brings together leading European players from quantum optics and photonics enabling to move from lab science to field deployment and bridge the quantum divide between large (governmental) and small (residential) end-users.

Microwave photonics technology (MWP) has the potential to create a huge commercial impact by bringing together the worlds of microwave engineering and photonics and by enabling processing functionalities in microwave systems that are complex or totally impossible in the microwave domain. The main reason for not having achieved this so far has been the lack of a photonic integration technology that could address the specific needs of MWP. HAMLET aims to fill this gap and develop a disruptive photonic integration platform that will enable the development of very large scale photonic integrated circuits (VLSPICs) with cascaded stages of tunable structures for analog and digital signal processing, variety of optical processing functionalities and ultra-low optical loss. To this end, HAMLET will employ two integration levels. At the first one, it will develop a disruptive PZT-based phase-shifter technology on TriPleX platform with lower power consumption compared to thermal phase-shifters by almost one million times. At the same level HAMLET will incorporate the deposition of graphene films as a standard step in the fabrication process of polymer platform and will develop arrays of electro-absorption modulators with high bandwidth (>25 GHz). At the second integration level, HAMLET will bring together the two platforms under a 3D hybrid integration engine, and will develop circuits with record scale of integrated components (>300), record scale of functionalities with optical beamforming for 64-element antenna arrays at first place, and novel use as the interface between the wireless and the optical part at the antenna units of emerging 5G networks. Finally, in parallel with the system-related exploitation, HAMLET will also work on the unification of the two platforms under a multi-project wafer run type of services to external users, where the 3D integration engine will be used for provision of supersets of components and tools already available in the two platforms.