I-Corps: Low-energy High-speed Optical Interconnects for Quantum Computers

I-Corps项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力是通过使用光信号传输改善低温量子计算系统和最终用户之间的互连。这种方法为目前易受热噪声干扰的电信号传输线提供了一种替代方法。该项目将解决当前将量子计算系统和高速光信息分配网络作为单一信息电路相结合的技术挑战。具体而言，该项目将(i)使最终用户的数据处理和传输速率显著提高，（ii）降低系统的总体功耗。拟议的创新将有可能通过包括强大的量子加密通信和量子传感，将量子计算范式从目前的实验阶段转变为大数据科学、人工智能、生物技术和拖带发现、金融预测以及国家安全等行业的大规模应用。这个I-Corps项目将进一步开发量子计算的光互连。所提出的技术利用腔极化子，它是半导体光学微腔中带电荷的光子，与真空或电介质中的光子不同，它对电场非常敏感。这使得通过来自量子比特读出系统的电脉冲可以重新路由，打开和关闭光。使用过渡金属硫族化物等新兴二维激子材料有助于显著增加光-物质相互作用，从而通过提高系统的工作速度、降低延迟和降低功耗来提高数据传输协议的稳定性。后者将减轻维持低温量子计算数据传输模块的冷却功率限制。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is to improve interconnects between low-temperature quantum computing systems and the end users by using optical signal transmission. This method provides an alternative to the current electric signal transmission lines, which are easily disturbed by thermal noise. The project will address the current technological challenge of combining, as a single information circuit, the quantum computing systems and high-speed optical information distribution networks. Specifically, the project will (i) enable significant increases to the data processing and transfer rates for the end user and (ii) reduce the overall power consumption of the system. The proposed innovation will potentially enable to shift the quantum computing paradigm from the current experimental stage to large-scale applications in industry including big data science, artificial intelligence, biotechnology and drag discovery, and financial forecasting, as well as national security by including robust quantum-encrypted communication and quantum sensing.This I-Corps project will further develop optical interconnects for quantum computing. The proposed technology utilizes cavity polaritons, which are photons dressed with charges in a semiconductor optical microcavity and, unlike photons in vacuum or dielectrics, are extremely sensitive to electric fields. This enables re-routing, switching on and off the light by means of the electric pulses from the qubit readout system. The use of emergent two-dimensional excitonic materials such as transition metal chalcogenides helps to significantly increase the light-matter interactions and thereby to improve the stability of the data transfer protocol by increasing the working speed, lowering latency and reducing the power consumption in the system. The latter will allow mitigation of the cooling power constraints for maintaining the cryogenic quantum computing data-transfer module.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.