Researchers have successfully generated strongly nonclassical light using a modular waveguide device, a waveguide-based light source. By combining a waveguide optical parametric amplifier (OPA) module created for quantum experiments and a specially designed photon detector, researchers produced light in a superposition of coherent states. The achievement represents a crucial step toward creating faster and more practical optical quantum computers.
The researchers aim to improve information processing by developing faster quantum computers to perform any computation without errors. Although there are several ways to create a quantum computer, light-based approaches are promising. The information processor can operate at room temperature, and the computing scale is easily expandable.
The new waveguide device method for generating quantum light can increase quantum computers’ computing power and make the information processer more compact. The approach outperforms conventional methods, and the modular waveguide OPA is easy to operate and integrate into quantum computers.
Continuous wave-squeezed light generates the various quantum states necessary to perform quantum computing. For the best computing performance, the squeezed light source must exhibit very low levels of light loss and be broadband, meaning it includes a wide range of frequencies. Higher clock frequencies enable faster execution of computational tasks and allow the delay lines in the optical circuits to be shortened.