Researchers have made a major advance in quantum computing with a new device that is nearly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
Published in the journal Nature Communications, the breakthrough optical phase modulators could help unlock much larger quantum computers by enabling efficient control of lasers required to operate thousands or even millions of qubits—the basic units of quantum information.
Critically, the team of scientists have developed these devices using scalable manufacturing, avoiding complex, custom builds in favor of those used to make the same technology behind processors already found in computers, phones, vehicles, home appliances—virtually everything powered by electricity (even toasters).
Led by Jake Freedman, an incoming Ph.D. student in the Department of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering; Matt Eichenfield, professor and the Karl Gustafson Endowed Chair in Quantum Engineering; and collaborators from Sandia National Laboratories, including co-senior author Nils Otterstrom, they created a device that is not only tiny and powerful, but also practical and inexpensive to mass-produce.
Their device uses microwave-frequency vibrations, oscillating billions of times per second, to manipulate laser light with extraordinary precision.
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