Light shines on quantum computing
A world-first experiment at Griffith University has shown quantum computers’ processing speed and accuracy can be increased with the help of tiny lighthouse lenses.
In a paper published this month in the prestigious physics journal Physical Review Letters, the research team at the University's Centre for Quantum Dynamics performed a series of new experiments showing the lenses enable more light to be collected, helping to boost information processing.
Fresnel lens, first developed for use in lighthouses in the 18th Century, allows light to shine over greater distances making lighthouses visible from far
Griffith physicists are the first to apply this to quantum computing, which could lead to exciting applications in long-distance networking secured by the properties of quantum mechanics.
Associate Professor David Kielpinski said collecting light had been a crucial limit in quantum computing that processed computing problems based on whether the light was on or off.
“The light from a single ion, an electrically charged atom, indicates the result from a computation and its brightness is typically less than a trillionth that of a light bulb,” A/Prof Kielpinski said.
“We successfully used miniature lenses to efficiently image the light emitted from a single ion and this will result in faster processing speeds and lower error rates in quantum computers.”
Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Dr. Erik Streed said the lenses were cost-effective and scaleable.
“The lenses are made with similar methods to computer chips. This means we can use one, 100 or 10,000 lenses with little variation to price,” Dr Streed said.
“Hence, as quantum computers get larger and the number of ions grows, we can increase the number of lenses in order to better read the results processed by ions.”
The study was funded by grants from the Australian Research Council Discovery Project scheme and the researchers are working towards a new era of secure communication over long-distances with quantum computing.
Quantum computers are expected to solve problems far exceeding the capacity of conventional computers.
