The power of one: Single photons illuminate quantum technology

Quantum mechanics, which aims to describe the nano-scale world around us, has already led to the development of many technologies ubiquitous in modern life, including broadband optical fibre communication and smartphone displays.

These devices operate using billions and billions of photons, the smallest indivisible quanta of light – but many powerful quantum effects (such as enabling quantum secure communication) can only be harnessed when working with a single photon.

The quantum science community has been waiting for more than a decade for a compact optical chip that delivers exactly one photon at a time at very high rates.

With international and local collaborators, I reported today in Nature Communications the ability to combine single photon-generating devices on a single silicon chip, a breakthrough for next generation quantum technologies.