In a new scientific paper, a team led by Professor Jelena Vuckovic describes how it built an integrated circuit to control the flow of light through a diamond chip, helping pave the way for quantum processors that, in theory, could perform some tasks, such as code-breaking, far faster than the fastest electronic computers today.
“Quantum technology is roughly where electronic technology was in the early 1970s,” said Vuckovic, who led the 13-person research team. “Researchers have figured out how to make very basic integrated circuits, but now they have to be scaled and made much better.”
Building an optical integrated circuit in diamond is a practical step toward making quantum technologies useful. Engineers have long known how to design ordinary electronic circuits and control the electrons that help perform computational tasks. But they are still struggling to build quantum circuits with all the necessary pathways to control photons, the basic particles in light.
Credit:”Quantum technology seekd to control light with unerring precision”, Tom Abate, Stanford University Engineering School
