For highly fragile quantum information systems, the ability to store quantum information is vital—but also challenging. Quantum information is transported in particles of light called photons, which often must be temporarily paused (or "stored") while other, slower quantum operations catch up. This storage must be performed on microchips as small as 1 centimeter (0.4 inches)—a distance covered by light in a few trillionths of a second. Storing photons for a microsecond would represent a massive leap forward for the capabilities of quantum chips.
New research from The Grainger College of Engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign addresses this challenge by developing an integrated on-chip nanophotonic platform for longer-term storage of photons.
The research, led by physics professor Elizabeth Goldschmidt and published in Nano Letters, describes an integrated platform that leverages the versatility of spectral hole burning and the scalability of thin-film lithium niobate, giving it potential for scalable manufacturing, with implications for both classical and quantum photonics.
"No one else has stored light on a chip in a platform like this, with this potential for scalability," said Priyash Barya, an electrical engineering graduate student and the paper's co-first author.
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