Pixel Photonics is a pioneering deep-tech start-up founded in 2021 as a spin-off of the University of Münster and based in Münster, Germany. The company has developed a unique approach for integrating superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors (SNSPDs) on a chip waveguide. Pixel Photonics combines the superior features of SNSPDs with the versatility of an integrated photonic platform to deliver highly parallelized, efficient, and ultra-fast single-photon detection.

Photographs of the photonic chip (left) and SNSPD products (right) of Pixel Photonics

While SNSPDs are inherently threshold detectors and insensitive to the number of photons in a detection event, waveguide integration and parallelization enable using SNSPDs for photon counting, thus paving the way for high-performance and scalable photonic quantum computing.

One of the biggest challenges of Pixel Photonics’ unique approach to SNSPDs is efficient fiber-to-chip coupling from an external source to our on-chip platform, the design of which requires large-scale nanophotonic computation.

“Tidy3D helps us to perform these computations in a matter of minutes,” says Dr. Marek Kozon, R&D Engineer for Computational Optics at Pixel Photonics.

Using Tidy3D, Dr. Kozon and his team have designed couplers that exceed the previous generation’s efficiency while allowing for a smoother design process.

“I especially value the flexibility of Tidy3D, which is seamlessly integrated within the Python environment. This means that we depend not only on currently implemented software features but can extend the functionality to whatever suits our needs. I also like that all the data files are transparent, and there are no hidden or encoded files, making it very smooth to work with Tidy3D.”

Photonic design engineers like Dr. Kozon are revolutionizing the photonic industry. We at Flexcompute proudly provide efficient tools into their excellent hands. At the same time, we help guide our customers through their simulation journey by providing complementary and timely technical support. Dr. Kozon says, “I have been delighted with the approachability and knowledge of the customer service.”