Weaving quantum processors out of laser light

Science Daily  October 17, 2019
The approach taken by an international team of researchers (Japan, Australia, USA – University of New Mexico) starts with extreme scalability, built in from the very beginning, because the processor, called a cluster state is made of light. A cluster state is a large collection of entangled quantum components that performs quantum computations when measured in a particular way. To be useful for real-world problems, a cluster state must be both large enough and have the right entanglement structure. To make the cluster state, specially designed crystals convert ordinary laser light into quantum light called squeezed light, which is then weaved into a cluster state by a network of mirrors, beamsplitters and optical fibres. The team’s design allows for a relatively small experiment to generate an immense two-dimensional cluster state with scalability built in. Although the levels of squeezing—a measure of quality—are currently too low for solving practical problems, the design is compatible with approaches to achieve state-of-the-art squeezing levels. Their experiment demonstrates that this design is feasible and scalable…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE

The entanglement structure of a large-scale quantum processor made of light. Credit: Shota Yokoyama 2019

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