Near-Optimal Chip-Based Photon Source Developed for Quantum Computing

Researchers at the University of Bristol have developed a new CMOS-compatible silicon photon source that satisfies all the requirements necessary for large-scale photonic quantum computing. To meet the stringent requirements for single-photon sources used in quantum computing, the researchers based their source on intermodal spontaneous four-wave mixing in a multimode silicon waveguide.

The intermodal approach to on-chip photon sources, where an interplay between multiple optical pump fields is used to generate photons, enables novel degrees of freedom to control the photon emission. By tailoring the geometry of a low-loss multimode waveguide and the on-chip temporal delay between the pump fields, the research team showed that the properties of the spontaneous photon emission could be engineered to achieve near-ideal photons.