Pixel Photonics receives funding from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research

Pixel Photonics on the way to the quantum communication revolution: funding in the millions acquired for the further development of innovative single photon detectors.

Münster - The young company Pixel Photonics, a spin-off of the Department of Physics at Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster, has recently successfully completed a round of financing. With an investment of 1.45 million euros, the startup aims to advance its single photon detection and counting technology. This venture is made possible by substantial research funding and support from EXIST. The company is working closely with renowned institutions such as the Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität Münster and the University of Heidelberg.

We are only at the beginning. The revolution in quantum communication has just begun. Our team is proud to be at the forefront of this exciting era.

Dr. Wladick Hartmann, Co-Founder and CTO Pixel Photonics

Pixel Photonics is focused on the development of photon detectors with the promising potential to revolutionize quantum communications, quantum computing, and medical technologies. Although its current equipment is still quite large and costly, the startup is already seeing its first customers and recognizing growing demand in the industry.

The Münster-based company sees enormous potential in its technology for encrypted quantum communication, quantum computing and medicine. The challenge now is to find suitable partners in the respective industries and successfully bring the products to market. Pixel Photonics' technology enables the detection and counting of individual photons, the smallest and indivisible units of light. This paves the way for a new era of encrypted quantum communication with breakthrough capabilities to improve the security of communication and information.

HTGF and Quantonation on board

Together with renowned partners such as the semi-public High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF), Quantonation, a fund from France specializing in quantum technology, and entrepreneur Hendrik Sabert, Pixel Photonics plans to further develop its technology and expand marketing and sales activities.

The company is also a partner in QuNET, a German initiative to develop a mobile quantum receiver for quantum key distribution (QKD). In parallel, Pixel Photonics is leading a project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. This project demonstrates the capabilities of waveguide-integrated single photon detection in a fully integrated multichannel system for QKD (QSAMIS). Another project aims at reducing the complexity of QKD systems (RECONNAITRE).

Pixel Photonics' research project "Scalable Multichannel Quantum Communication Platform (MultiQomm)" aims to develop a detector chip that can meet various requirements for industrial applications. The most significant innovation of this project lies in the integration of different superconducting single photon detectors with different characteristics on a single chip. This approach enables more powerful systems while requiring less space, especially for applications such as quantum key distribution.