Icarus Quantum Awarded Air Force SBIR Contract to Develop High-Efficiency Quantum Interconnects

Icarus Quantum, a Boulder-based startup specializing in quantum light generation, has been awarded a Direct-to-Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract by the United States Air Force. In strategic partnership with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the company will develop high-efficiency, on-demand entangled photon sources. These devices are designed to serve as the foundational infrastructure for quantum interconnects, enabling the networking of modular quantum systems and the distribution of entangled qubits across fiber-optic networks.

The project leverages over 25 years of research from the Quantum Nanophotonics Group at NIST Boulder to commercialize semiconductor quantum dot (QD) technology. Unlike traditional probabilistic photon sources that typically achieve a maximum efficiency of 1%, Icarus Quantum’s deterministic QD platform is engineered to boost this efficiency to over 70%. By isolating excitation beams from emitted photons through a specialized "noise-free" excitation method, the company has demonstrated high-purity, indistinguishable single photons that surpass current industry benchmarks, providing a pathway to high-fidelity, polarization-entangled photon pairs.

The Role of Photonic Interconnects in Scaling

The Air Force contract focuses on creating the hardware necessary for modular quantum computing and secure, long-range communications. Photons are the only information carriers capable of operating at room temperature while traveling through standard optical fiber, making them essential for connecting cryogenic quantum processing units (QPUs). By delivering a state-of-the-art entangled-photon source to the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Icarus Quantum intends to unlock a new regime of networked quantum systems, which is a critical step toward realizing "data center-scale" quantum computing and a functional quantum internet.

Strategic Partnership and Commercial Path

Icarus Quantum operates as a spin-out from NIST and is led by CEO Dr. Poolad Imany, an Activate Fellow. The company's full-stack interconnect solution is designed to be platform-agnostic, making it compatible with various qubit modalities, including superconducting and trapped-ion systems. This SBIR award builds on previous funding from NIST and the AFRL, supporting the company's objective to deliver a commercial-grade entangled photon generator by 2028. The collaboration with NIST and academic partners, such as the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, ensures that the developed technology meets the stringent stability and fiber-coupling requirements needed for both terrestrial and space-based quantum networking.

You can find the announcement regarding Icarus Quantum's Air Force SBIR award here. For more information on the company’s cryo-CMOS and quantum dot technology, visit the official Icarus Quantum portal here.

May 11, 2026