The THz part of the electromagnetic spectrum has a number of potential applications which include oncology (skin cancer imaging), security imaging, THz bandwidth photonics, production monitoring and astronomy. The U.K. has been one of the pioneering countries in THz research but also in the exploitation of the technology with a number of companies including TeraView, QMC Instruments and Thruvision. At present most commercial imaging and spectroscopy systems use expensive femtosecond lasers with photoconductive antenna which fundamentally limits the power output to the microWatt level. Virtually all the applications referenced above require room temperature sources with over 10 mW of output power if parallel, fast, high performance imaging and/or spectroscopy systems are to be developed.While interband recombination of electrons and holes in Si and Ge are inefficient due to the indirect bandgap of the semiconductors, intersubband transitions provide an alternative path to a laser for low energy radiation such as THz frequencies. Intersubband unipolar lasers in the form of quantum cascade lasers have been demonstrated using III-V materials. Powers up to 248 mW at 10 K have been demonstrated at THz frequencies but due to polar optical phonon scattering and the associated reduction in intersubband lifetimes as the temperature is increased, such devices only operate at cryogenic temperatures. Previous work has been undertaken on p-type Si/SiGe quantum cascade lasers but due to large non-parabolicity and large effective mass (0.3 to 0.4 m_0) in the valence band, significant gain above 10 cm^-1 is difficult to engineer.In this proposal, we propose to use pure Ge quantum well designs and L-valley electrons for the first experimental demonstration of a n-type Si-based quantum cascade laser grown on top of a Si substrate. We demonstrate that the low effective of 0.118 m_0 and long non-polar lifetimes in the Ge/SiGe system potentially provide gain close to values demonstrated in GaAs THz quantum cascade lasers at 4 K and also potentially allow 300 K operation. Further the cheap and mature available Si process technology will allow at least a x100 reduction in the cost of THz quantum cascade lasers compared to GaAs devices. Such devices could be further developed into vertical cavity emitters (i.e. VCSELs) for parallel imaging applications or integrated with Si photonics to allow THz bandwidth telecoms. Finally we propose optically pumped structures which have the potential for broadband tunability, higher output powers and higher operating temperatures than THz quantum cascade lasers.This programme has brought together the modelling and design toolsets at Leeds University with the CVD growth expertise at Warwick University combined with the fabrication and measurement expertise of SiGe devices at Glasgow University to deliver internationally leading research. We have a number of industrial partners (AdvanceSis, Kelvin Nanotechnology and TeraView) who provide direct exploitation paths for the research. Successful room temperature quantum cascade lasers are an enabling technology for many new markets for THz applications including oncology (skin cancer imaging), security imaging, production monitoring, proteomics, drug discovery and astronomy.

Our proposal requests five distinct bundles of equipment to enhance the University's capabilities in research areas ranging across aerospace, complex chemistry, electronics, healthcare, magnetic, microscopy and sensors. Each bundle includes equipment with complementary capabilities and this will open up opportunities for researchers across the University, ensuring maximum utilisation. This proposal builds on excellent research in these fields, identified by the University as strategically important, which has received significant external funding and University investment funding. The new facilities will strengthen capacity and capabilities at Glasgow and profit from existing mechanisms for sharing access and engaging with industry. The requested equipment includes: - Nanoscribe tool for 3D micro- and nanofabrication for development of low-cost printed sensors. - Integrated suite of real-time manipulation, spectroscopy and control systems for exploration of complex chemical systems with the aim of establishing the new field of Chemical Cybernetics. - Time-resolved Tomographic Particle Image Velocimetry - Digital Image correlation system to simultaneously measure and quantify fluid and surface/structure behaviour and interaction to support research leading to e.g. reductions in aircraft weight, drag and noise, and new environmentally friendly engines and vehicles. - Two microscopy platforms with related optical illumination and excitation sources to create a Microscopy Research Lab bringing EPS researchers together with the life sciences community to advance techniques for medical imaging. - Magnetic Property Measurement system, complemented by a liquid helium cryogenic sample holder for transmission electron microscopy, to facilitate a diverse range of new collaborations in superconductivity-based devices, correlated electronic systems and solid state-based quantum technologies. These new facilities will enable interdisciplinary teams of researchers in chemistry, computing science, engineering, medicine, physics, mathematics and statistics to come together in new areas of research. These groups will also work with industry to transform a multitude of applications in healthcare, aerospace, transport, energy, defence, security and scientific and industrial instrumentation. With the improved facilities: - Printed electronics will be developed to create new customized healthcare technologies, high-performance low-cost sensors and novel manufacturing techniques. - Current world-leading complex chemistry research will discover, design, develop and evolve molecules and materials, to include adaptive materials, artificial living systems and new paradigms in manufacturing. - Advanced flow control technologies inside aero engine and wing configurations will lead to greener products and important environmental impacts. - Researchers in microscopy and related life science disciplines can tackle biomedical science challenges and take those outputs forward so that they can be used in clinical settings, with benefits to healthcare. - Researchers will be able to develop new interfaces in advanced magnetics materials and molecules which will give new capabilities to biomedical applications, data storage and telecommunications devices. We have existing industry partners who are poised to make use of the new facilities to improve their current products and to steer new joint research activities with a view to developing new products that will create economic, social and environmental impacts. In addition, we have networks of industrialists who will be invited to access our facilities and to work with us to drive forward new areas of research which will deliver future impacts to patients, consumers, our environment and the wider public.

The last fifty years have seen spectacular progress in the ability to assemble materials with a precision of nanometers (a few atoms across). This nanofabrication ability is built upon the twin pillars of lithography and pattern transfer. A whole range of tools are used for pattern transfer. Lithography is a photographic process for the production of small structures in which structures are "drawn" in a thin radiation sensitive film. Then comes the pattern transfer step in which the shapes are transferred into a useful material, such as that of an active semiconductor device or a metal wire. Lithography is the key process used to make silicon integrated circuits, such as a microprocessor with eight billion working transistors, or a camera chip which is over two inches across. The manufacture of microprocessors is accomplished in large, dedicated factories which are limited to making one type of device. Also, normal lithography tools require the production of large, perfect and extremely expensive "negatives" so that it is only economical to use this technology to make huge numbers of identical devices. The applications of lithography are far broader than just making silicon chips, however. For example, large areas of small dots of material can be used to make cells grow in particular directions or to become certain cell types for use in regenerative medicine; The definition of an exquisitely precise diffraction grating on a laser allows it to produce the perfectly controlled wavelengths of light needed to make portable atomic clocks or to measure the tiny magnetic fields associated with the functioning of the brain; Lithography enables the direct manipulation of quantum states needed to refine the international standards of time and electrical current and may one day revolutionise computation; By controlling the size and shape of a material we can give it new properties, enabling the replacement of scarce strategic materials such as tellurium in the harvesting of waste thermal energy. This grant will enable the installation of an "electron-beam lithography" system in an advanced general-purpose fabrication laboratory. Electron beam lithography uses an electron beam rather than light to expose the resist and has the same advantages of resolution that an electron microscope has over a light microscope. This system will allow the production of the tiniest structures over large samples but does not need an expensive "negative" to be made. Instead, like a laser printer, the pattern to be written is defined in software, so that there is no cost associated with changing the shape if only one object of a particular shape is to be made. The electron beam lithography system is therefore perfect for making small things for scientific research or for making small numbers of a specialized device for a small company. The tool will be housed in a laboratory which allows the processing of the widest possible range of materials, from precious gem diamonds a few millimetres across to disks of exotic semiconductor the size of dinner plates. The tool will be used by about 200 people from all over the UK and the world. By running continuously the tool will be very inexpensive to use, allowing the power of leading-edge lithography to be used by anyone, from students to small businesses. The tool will be supported and operated by a large dedicated team of extremely experienced staff, so that the learning curve to applying the most advanced incarnation of the most powerful technology of the age will be reduced to a matter of a few weeks.

Cloud storage is rapidly growing because we all, as individuals, companies, organisations and governments, rely on data farms filled with large numbers of 'server' computers using hard disk drives (HDDs) to store personal and societal digital information. One server is required for every 600 smartphones or 120 tablet computers, and trends such as Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things are generating yet more new data, so the Cloud will continue to grow rapidly. The Cloud accounted for 25% of storage in 2010 and will account for >60% by 2020. As a result of these trends, the Cloud storage market is growing at 30% p.a. and is expected to be worth nearly $100b by 2022. While almost all personal computing and related electronic devices have migrated to solid state drives (SSD), HDDs are the only viable technology for cloud storage and a step change in the capacity of HDDs is required. Due to the limitations of existing magnetic materials, a new technology is needed to increase the density of magnetic data recording beyond the current 1Tb/sq. inch out to well beyond 10Tb/sq. inch and meet the 30% annual growth rate. Heat assisted magnetic recording (HAMR) has been identified to overcome physical challenges and has now demonstrated proof of principle. HAMR requires the integration of photonic components including lasers, waveguides and plasmonic antennas within the current magnetic recording head transducer. With a total addressable market (TAM) of 400-600 million hard disk drives p.a. with 3-4 heads per drive, HAMR is projected to require 2+ billion diode lasers p.a. & become the largest single market for laser diodes and photonic integration. HAMR will only be successful if it can be deployed as a low-cost manufacturable technology. Its successful development will therefore drive low-cost photonic integration and plasmonic technology into other industries and applications. Queen's University Belfast & University of Glasgow co-created CDT PIADS in 2014/15 with 9 companies, and the founding vision of CDT PIADS was to train cohorts of high calibre doctoral research students in the skillsets needed by the data storage & photonics partner-base & the wider UK supply chain. Students are trained in an interdisciplinary environment encompassing five themes of robust semiconductor lasers, planar lightwave circuits, advanced characterisation, plasmonic devices, & materials for high density magnetic storage. By providing high-level scientific & engineering research skills in the challenges of integrating photonics & advanced materials alongside rich & enhanced skills training, graduating doctoral students are equipped to lead & operate at the highest technical levels in cross geographic distributed environments. In renewal we exploit the opportunity to engage & enhance our programme in collaboration with Science Foundation Ireland & the Irish Photonics Integration Centre with complementary capabilities including packaging & microtransfer printing for materials/device integration. Our training is expanded to include research on computational properties of functional & plasmonic materials and introduce a new programme of professional externally validated leadership training & offering both PhD and EngD routes. All 50 students recruited in renewal will have industry involvement in their programme, whether through direct sponsorship/collaboration or via placements. Our anchor tenant partner, Seagate Technology, has a major R&D and manufacturing site in the UK. Their need to manufacture of up to 1b p.a. photonic integrated devices at this site gives CDT PIADS a unique opportunity to create an ecosystem for training & research in photonic integration and data storage. The anchor tenant model will bring other companies together who also need the human resource & outcomes of the CDT to meet their skills demands.

In the last decade, proof of concepts has been given and small-scale demonstrators have been built to show that the quantum devices allow obtaining unprecedented performances in practical applications. For example, dramatic enhancements can be obtained in the speed and computational power of next-generation computers (Quantum computing) using superconducting qubits. Also, disruptive performance improvements can be achieved in advanced imaging, remote sensing, long distance/secure communication (quantum cryptography) or diagnostic techniques using superconducting nanowire single-photon detectors - SNSPDs. The transition from demonstrators to practical scaled-up devices with a large number of elements is still at an early stage and a significant technological leap is required for a real breakthrough in those fields. The identified challenge in scaling-up the number of elements in quantum circuits, that is virtually identical for superconducting qubits and SNSPDs operating in Radio Frequency regime - RF-SNSPDs -, is represented by efficient multiplexing of these elements since they typically operate at cryogenic temperatures and need multiple connections for control and read-out at microwave frequencies. This makes the electronics complex, costly and difficult to scale beyond 10 to 100 of elements in the commercially available cryostats hampering their use in real-world applications. Single Flux Quantum (SFQ) electronics can operate at cryogenic temperature with unrivalled high frequency and ultra-low power consumption relying on the peculiar current to voltage relation of their basic element: the Josephson Junctions (JJ). Under proper condition, JJs generates ~2 ps width voltage pulses at repetition frequency above 500 GHz, with unprecedented time accuracy, stability and low power consumption. SFQ electronics is intrinsically scalable and we propose to use generated SFQ pulses as a source for precise and low noise frequency signals for multiplexed control and read-out of on-chip integrated qubits and RF-SNSPDs arrays. This transformative approach will allow to finally fill the gap in the existing quantum technology for a step-change at the same time in quantum science and advanced sensing applications. At this aim, we will bring together top UK expertise in nanofabrication and superconducting quantum technology, backed by a strong commitment from the UK world-leading company in SFQ electronics and quantum technologies SeeQC UK. We build on previous work carried out through Innovate UK, Marie Curie, Royal Society and European Research Council funding and make complimentary use of expertise and nanofabrication facilities to significant progress in the development of quantum technology in a 3-years targeted programme. Thanks to the strategic collaboration with National UK Quantum Technology Hubs, we will carry out joint experiments in quantum computing/simulation (Hub in Quantum computing and simulation - HQCS) and in advanced imaging (QuantIC) applications to show the game-changing nature of developed technology. Also, we will leverage support to engage closely with end-users and stakeholder maximizing the impact of the research project. Potential markets for developed technology will be exploited through the collaboration with QT hubs industry partners' network and with the strategic Industrial partners of this proposal like Kelvin Nanotechnology (KNT), Oxford Quantum Circuits (OQC) and SeeQC UK. This project is designed to generate high-quality research outputs and to deploy advanced technology in the field of quantum science. The work strongly resonates with the central themes of Horizon 2020 programmes and with the UK strategic research priorities set by Research Councils. The long-term goal is to establish a world-class experimental research programme which will have a powerful cross-disciplinary impact strengthening the UK's leading position in new science and technology to generate societal and economic benefits.