The scale-up of quantum hardware is fundamental to realize the full potential of quantum technology. Among a plethora of hardware platforms, photonics stands out: it provides a modular approach where the main challenges lie in the construction of high-quality building blocks and in the development of methods to interface the modules. The subsequent scale-up could exploit mature integrated photonics foundry technology to produce small-footprint quantum processors of immense complexity. Solid-state quantum emitters can realize a deterministic photon-emitter interface and enable key quantum photonic resources and functionalities, including on-demand single- and multi-photon-entanglement sources, as well as photon-photon nonlinear quantum gates. In this Review, we use the example of quantum dot devices to present the physics of deterministic photon-emitter interfaces, including the main photonic building blocks required to scale up, and discuss quantitative performance benchmarks. While our focus is on quantum dot devices, the presented methods also apply to other quantum-emitter platforms such as atoms, vacancy centres, molecules and superconducting qubits. We also identify applications within quantum communication and computing, presenting a route towards photonics with a genuine quantum advantage.
© 2021. Springer Nature Limited.