Communications of the ACM
Quantum Computing: Diode-Like Breakthrough Surmounts Roadblock
A new diode-like component allows individual photons to be emitted to flow in just one direction, depending on whether their spin is "up" or "down."
Credit: Sahand Mahmoodian and Sren Stobbe
Niels Bohr Institute researchers have developed a diode-like component that enables single photons to be emitted and flow in only one direction depending upon whether their spin is "up" or "down."
The researchers also developed a kind of photon delay line, and they say these new photonic components can be applied to developing practical quantum computers.
"Our research focus is on the development of photonic hardware for quantum technology and [we] may have a number of technological applications, both short-term and longer-term," says Niels Bohr professor Peter Lodahl.
The quantum dot single-photon emitter sends up-spin single photons in one direction down a waveguide and down-spin single photons in the opposite direction, creating a quantum computer component that separates quantum bits based on their encoding.
"In future quantum computers, it is essential to be able to control the interaction between light and matter--photons and quantum dots in our case," Lodahl says.
The delay-line type of component for photons is similar to delay line components found in conventional electronics.
"Our discovery of the different interaction depending on propagation direction opens new possibilities of controlling light-matter interaction enabling the construction of novel photonic chips constituting basic hardware for quantum-computing technology," Lodahl says.
From EE Times
View Full Article
Abstracts Copyright © 2015 Information Inc., Bethesda, Maryland, USA
No entries found