A team of researchers from Politecnico di Milano is participating in Q-PLANET – Quantum Pilot Line for production of Advanced chips for Neutral atom European Technologies. Coordinated by Prof. Francesco Morichetti from the Department of Electronics, Information and Bioengineering, the team also includes Prof. Francesco Zanetto and Prof. Andrea Melloni from the same department, as well as Prof. Giorgio Ferrari from the Department of Physics.
The project is one of six European pilot lines dedicated to quantum chips launched under the EU Chips Joint Undertaking. It brings together 28 partners, including research centres, universities and companies from 11 European Union countries. Italian partners include Politecnico di Milano, INRIM, CNR and SAES Getters.
The initiative aims to strengthen Europe’s quantum technology supply chain and support the transition from research to industrial production by developing scalable, reproducible and more efficient quantum components and subsystems ready for commercial applications in quantum computing, sensing and secure communications.
Q-PLANET will develop chip-based components for neutral-atom quantum systems, including integrated lasers, atom chips for quantum computing and sensing, and microfabricated vapour cells for atomic clocks and field sensors. Within the project, Politecnico di Milano will lead activities concerning electronic control systems and algorithms for the automatic calibration and stabilisation of integrated photonic chips required to produce ultra-high-performance tunable laser sources.
Over the first three years, the project aims to advance processes and components to validation under realistic operating conditions, raising these technologies from TRL 4 to TRL 6. Design and assembly standards will also be established to facilitate access to the neutral-atom quantum technology sector for start-ups and small and medium-sized enterprises through the pilot line.
The project involves the Photonic Devices Laboratory, the I3N Laboratory and PoliFab, Politecnico di Milano’s micro- and nanotechnology centre.