Photons are the smallest particles of light. In order to make them individually visible and measurable, Pixel Photonics develops novel single photon detectors.
Find out more about the innovation from Münsterland on this page.
Pixel Photonics was founded in 2020 and is a spin-off from the University of Münster. The five founders Nicolai Walter, Dr Wladick Hartmann, Fabian Beutel, Martin Wolff and Christoph Seidenstücker produce hardware for optical quantum technology applications, so-called single-photon detectors, which can be used in a wide variety of areas.
The Institute of Physics at WWU Münster conducts research in the fields of surface and interface physics, nanoelectronics and quantum technology, among others. Prof. Wolfram Pernice and Prof. Carsten Schuck are experts in nanosystems and integrated quantum technology, i.e. they deal with the smallest particles in physics.
Making the smallest particles of light, the so-called photons, visible and measurable: This is the challenge that the founders of Pixel Photonics have set themselves. The measurement technology is used, for example, in the development of quantum computers, in quantum cryptography and in microscopy. With their special properties, photons are the key to new technologies, because they make it possible to carry information through time and space. Photons can remain coherent over long distances, are robust against ambient noise and are positively and negatively charged at the same time.
Pixel Photonics is developing hardware to make the individual light particles visible and thus measurable: The single photon detectors.
The core of the detectors are superconducting nanowires. The Pixel Photonics team has thus succeeded in producing a key technology for future secure quantum communication systems.
Unlike other approaches, Pixel Photonics' technology is scalable, meeting the requirements of quantum optical applications. Pixel Photonics' single photon detectors combine scalability with high detection efficiency at very high speed. This helps to increase the number of channels in quantum computers or the data rates in quantum cryptography without increasing the technical complexity. In this way, research can be advanced in many areas from imaging to quantum cryptography, which would not be possible at all without the new technology. This is why the innovative hardware from Münster is of great interest to researchers and development departments worldwide. The first detector systems have already been delivered.
Pixel Photonics has been selected as a subcontractor for a €14 million development contract awarded by DLR (German Aerospace Center) to quantum computer start-up QuiX from Enschede in the Netherlands. The four-year project aims to develop a photonic quantum computer with at least 64 qubits. The high-performance single photon detectors play a crucial role in the realisation of photonic quantum computers. With this very important industry contract, Pixel Photonics can accelerate its efforts to commercialise the scalable WI-SNSPD technology for quantum computing, microscopy and quantum communication. The growing company is looking to hire more employees and is continuously searching for suitable professionals in the fields of physics, electrical engineering and business administration.
As a regional joint initiative, Enabling Networks Münsterland supports companies and universities in the Münsterland region in developing innovations, implementing them and finding the right partners for the project. In order to show how innovative and at the same time cooperative Münsterland already is, the project also went in search of innovative cooperation projects from the region. The results are presented on this page. The Enabling Networks Münsterland project is funded by the European Union and the NRW Ministry of Economics as part of the ERDF call "Regio.NRW".
