[ad_1]
THE processors and the quantum networks of the future, perhaps, they can be made of diamond. A substance that, in addition to the note hardness record-breaking, it also has other properties that make it particularly interesting for the creation of photonic circuits, which paves the way for new and better quantum computing systems. To prove it one newly published study in the magazine Acs Photonics by a team of researchers fromInstitute of Photonics and Nanotechnology (Ifn) of National Research Council (Cnr) and of theUniversity of Ulm in Germany: Scientists have succeeded in developing an innovative, hybrid fabrication method for making photonic circuits using diamond – an essential step, they say, to develop quantum bitsor qubitsthe essential information unit of a quantum processor.
Why diamonds
“In the diamond – explains Shane EatonCnr-Ifn researcher and co-author of the work – there are, and can be suitably engineered, gods lattice defects able to be used as qubits. These are the so-called color centers, reticular positions where an impurity is present and sends a carbon atom, and in which it is possible to encode, control and manipulate quantum information in the form of qubits. This particular morphology, and the presence of these defects, makes diamond a promising candidate for quantum technologies”.
To be able to “write” on the diamond, transforming its impurities into quantum bits, scientists have used a femtosecond lasercapable of emitting very short and very close pulses of light (a femtosecond corresponds to a millionth of a billionth of a second), which, hitting the diamond, create photonic connections, the “small bricks” fundamentals to quantum computing: the feasibility of this had already been demonstrated in a previous study, conducted by the same group in 2016 and published in the magazine Nature Scientific Reports. Now, however, they have gone one step further: “Another key ingredient – continues Eaton – is to realize i qubits: with this new technique we have developed an integrated diamond chip, capable of engineering light at the level of single photons”.
One step further
Now it’s time to move on to next phase, that is to insert these chips in a three-dimensional circuit. When researchers succeed, we will be able to say that we are really closer to implementing this technology in a quantum computer: “The next step – concludes the scientist – will be to manufacture a three-dimensional photonic circuit to make possible systems for next generation quantum computing in diamond, such as to allow the processing of a considerable amount of data simultaneously and with extreme speed “. To be used, for example, to solve complex problems more quickly or to fine-tune secure communication channels to transfer encrypted information, one of the most promising features of quantum networks.
.
[ad_2]
Source link
