VIGO Photonics’ IR Sensors Board NASA’s Orion: Week in Brief: 06/16/22

III-V Epi, a provider of compound semiconductor wafer foundry services, completed the Innovate UK-funded, SHARK-VECSELs project with the University of Strathclyde. The project saw the development of high-power, narrow-linewidth, visible lasers for next-generation, strontium-atom-based, quantum atomic clocks. The £50,000 (~$61,321) government SHARK-VECSELs project’s full name is Supply Chain for Strontium Clock Vertical External Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers.

A 689-nm VECSEL developed by III-V Epi and the University of Strathclyde. Courtesy of the University of Strathclyde.

BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Quantum computing company Quantinuum revealed a major upgrade to its System Model H1 technology that includes expanding to 20 fully connected qubits and increasing the number of quantum operations that can be completed in parallel. The upgraded system has undergone extensive testing by internal and external users to verify performance and functionality, including a private preview with JP Morgan Chase. The second version of the System Model H1, the H1-2, is scheduled to undergo similar upgrades later this year. Quantinuum is the combined company of Cambridge Quantum and Honeywell Quantum Solutions.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — VIGO Photonics’ infrared detector products were selected to monitor critical environmental systems on board NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The detectors will be used in the Laser Air Monitor System, which will be used to measure the concentrations of carbon dioxide, water, and oxygen. Part of the Artemis program, Orion will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during the space travel, and provide safe reentry from deep space return velocities.

REDONDO BEACH, Calif. — Northrop Grumman Corp. demonstrated a secure networked laser communications system for proliferated low-Earth orbit constellations supporting the U.S. military. The work was done under contract with the Space Development Agency (SDA), which awarded the company $692 million in February to develop the network. Performed for SDA leadership, the demonstration validated compatibility between commercially developed laser communication and secure U.S. government encryption hardware, providing a baseline for Northrop Grumman’s future proliferated space crosslink communications offerings including SDA’s Transport and Tracking programs.

Northrop Grumman’s T1TL mesh satellite constellation will provide resilient, low-latency, high-volume data transport supporting U.S. military missions around the world and serve as a critical element for Joint All Domain Command Control. Courtesy of Northrop Grumman.

LYON, France — Yole Développement and System Plus Consulting combined to form Yole Group, and have established the entities Yole Intelligence and Yole SystemPlus. The distribution of product and consulting services offered by Yole Intelligence and Yole SystemPlus will be presented on a new website, www.yolegroup.com. The website will include news from the semiconductor industry, interviews with companies, and editorial content from Yole Group’s analysts.

UPTON, N.Y. — The University of Illinois Chicago joined the Brookhaven National Laboratory-led Co-design Center for Quantum Advantage (C²QA), making the public research university C²QA’s 24th partner institution. C²QA is one of five U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science National Quantum Information Science Research Centers (NQISRCs) established in support of the National Quantum Initiative Act.

The University of Illinois Chicago's Engineering Innovation Building in Chicago. Courtesy of the University of Illinois Chicago.

ERLANGER, Kentucky — AquiSense Technologies, a developer of UVC LED water disinfection technology, established a subsidiary in Germany. AquiSense Technologies Europe GmbH will be based near Frankfurt. Thomas Arnold, who previously served as AquiSense’s European sales director, will lead the newly established company.