Facilities
IPaQS hosts a range of world-class facilities underpinning our experimental research in photonics and quantum technology. Our labs host a variety of lasers, including sources generating record-breaking high-energy few-femtosecond pulses of light in the vacuum and deep ultraviolet region.
Lasers are utilised to access new regimes in the investigation of electron dynamics in matter from the UV to the mid-infrared, but also to process novel materials and devices.
Our quantum technology labs include state-of-the-art equipment for quantum communication and sensing, including a ground optical station for satellite communication and a variety of high-performance single photon detectors.
Our research on quantum materials benefits from several state-of-the-art low-vibration cryostats with optical access, high-resolution spectrometers, and dedicated microwave equipment for spin qubit control. We have access to key nano-fabrication facilities, and to the world’s first commercial low-temperature scanning quantum sensor based on a single spin.
The newly refurbished cleanroom at Heriot-Watt University is equipped with state-of-the-art nano-fabrication and characterization equipment and hosts the EPSRC Two-Dimensional Photonics Fabrication facility. Key resources include:
- Lithography: Optical (mask aligners), electron-beam, and direct laser writing.
- Deposition: E-beam evaporator, PECVD, magnetron sputtering, thermal evaporator.
- Characterization: SEM, advanced AFM, imaging ellipsometry, ZYGO interferometer, Dektak profilometer.
- Additional Tools: Dicing saw, semi-automatic flip-chip bonder, ICP/RIE plasma etcher.
- 2D Heterostructure device fabrication: An advanced, fully automated system for identifying and assembling 2D heterostructures in an inert environment.
The facility can be accessed by external academic and industrial entities.
Contact: Prof Brian Gerardot