Emergent Phenomena in Quantum Systems investigator, Jason Petta, Ph.D., associate professor of physics at Princeton University, and researchers at the university, have built a device that is a step forward for silicon-based quantum computers. The more than five-year effort, recently published in the journal Science, has made possible the ability of an electron to talk to a photon.
The discovery will help the researchers use light in the form of photons to link individual electrons, which act as the bits, or smallest units of data, in a quantum computer, enabling the computers to solve complex questions that today’s computers cannot. Photons are more robust against disruption and can potentially carry quantum information not just from qubit to qubit in a quantum computer circuit but also between quantum chips via cables.
Quantum computers are innovative devices that, when realized, will be able to perform advanced calculations using tiny particles such as electrons, which follow quantum rules rather than the physical laws of the everyday world. Simple quantum computers have already been made using other materials, but silicon-based quantum devices are highly attractive because they are inexpensive and already widely used in today's smartphones and computers.
“Just like in human interactions, to have good communication a number of things need to work out — it helps to speak the same language and so forth,” Petta said. “We are able to bring the energy of the electronic state into resonance with the light particle, so that the two can talk to each other.”
Read more from Princeton University here.
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