EAGER: Quantum Manufacturing "Scalable integration of ion-photon quantum information converters (IP-QIC) on fiber for networking and computing applications"

这笔拨款将支持推进光纤电缆精密制造的研究，该光纤电缆包含集成量子离子处理器，用于未来可扩展网络中的应用。为了创建这样一个网络，现有的最先进的信息处理量子硬件，如离子处理器，必须伴随着开发足够的互连，以允许多个处理器作为更广泛的合作网络中的节点的可扩展集成。为了实现这种整合，数字通信的主力光纤需要经历一次量子化的转变。这笔拨款将用于制造定制光纤，该光纤能够无损地将量子相干信息从离子量子比特处理器上编码的固定形式转换为光子通过通信链路传输的飞行量子比特，反之亦然。这项研究将为新型光纤的可扩展制造提供优化设计，其中线性离子阵列是光纤光导核心的组成部分。将固定量子比特处理器连续集成到飞行量子比特流线的光路中，将使孤立的处理器统一成一个同步网络，能够执行各自按比例增加的复杂性的信息处理任务。该项目的教育部分将侧重于吸引代表性不足的群体接受量子信息科学教育，并在专注于重新点燃国内制造业的行业中启动量子制造实习计划。该基金将推进高保真离子-光子量子信息转换器（IP-QIC）的制造工程研究，该转换器将离子处理器集成到可扩展的量子网络中。它将探索从理论到实践的优化光纤系统的制造，其中捕获离子阵列取代光学引导核心的部分。结合光纤的热拉伸，其中四极电极与光学核心同心，然后在光纤包层中选择性蚀刻轴向间隙，并通过毛细管不稳定性产生的间隙边缘到微透镜的控制回流，将制造出一个光纤系统，其中多个保罗陷阱可以沿光纤轴向放置。保罗阱将装载在超高真空（UHV）中，线性离子阵列与光纤的光芯同心对齐，将它们集成到一个单一的量子相干系统中。光纤理论声称，对于任何折射率高于其环境的圆柱对称系统，如真空中的线性离子阵列，基本导光模式没有截止。因此，一个光纤系统，其中离子阵列是光学核心的组成部分，形成一个不间断的，连续的光波导，是可能的。这种无缝的排列有望提高光子和离子量子比特之间的相互作用效率，从而在这两种物理形式之间来回转换量子信息。该项目将对尖端光纤制造方法进行分类，以精确实现日益复杂的量子信息系统。IP-QIC是一种新的物理安排，为实验研究打开了迄今为止尚未探索的系统整体哈密顿量中的相关项，描述了光纤的光学模式与离子阵列的声子和激子状态的耦合。因此，IP-QIC将在量子算法中开辟一个利基，探索复杂量子物质的行为，如强相关和拓扑，以及健壮和可扩展的软件定义量子网络的数据路由协议。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。

This grant will support research advancing the precision manufacturing of fiber optic cables housing integrated quantum ionic processors for future applications in a scalable network. To create such a network, existing state-of-the-art information-processing quantum hardware, such as ionic processors, must be accompanied by developing adequate interconnects to allow the scalable integration of multiple processors as nodes in the more extensive cooperative network. For this integration, fiber optics, the workhorse of digital communication, needs to undergo a quantum-enabling transformation. This grant will pursue the manufacturing of custom fiber that is capable of lossless translation of quantum-coherent information from the stationary form encoded on the ionic qubit processor into the flying qubits transmitted by photons through the communication links and vice versa. This research will deliver the optimized design for scalable manufacturing of a new class of fibers, in which linear ion arrays are integral sections of the fiber light-guiding core. Such a contiguous integration of the stationary-qubit processors into the optical path of the flying-qubit streamline will enable the unification of isolated processors into a synchronized network capable of performing information processing tasks of a respectively scaled-up complexity. The project's educational component will focus on outreach to attract underrepresented groups to pursue education in Quantum Information Science and launch the internship program in Quantum Manufacturing in industries focused on rekindling domestic manufacturing.The grant will advance the manufacturing engineering research of a high-fidelity Ionic-Photonic Quantum Information Converter (IP-QIC) integrating ionic processors into a scalable quantum network. It will explore the theory-to-practice optimization of the fabrication of fiber-optic systems in which arrays of trapped ions replace sections of optically guiding core. Combining a thermal draw of fiber, in which a quadrupole of electrodes is concentric to the optical core, followed by selective etching of axial gaps in the fiber cladding, and controlled reflow by a capillary instability of the resulting gap-edges into micro-lenses, a fiber system in which multiple Paul traps can be house axially along the fiber will be fabricated. The Paul traps will be loaded in Ultra-High Vacuum (UHV) with linear ion arrays concentrically aligned with the optical cores of the fiber, integrating them into a single quantum-coherent system. The fiber-optic theory claims no cut-off for the fundamental guided optical mode for any cylindrically symmetric system of refractive index higher than its environment, such as that of a linear ion array in a vacuum. Thus, a fiber system in which the ion arrays are the integral sections of the optical core, forming an uninterrupted, continuous lightguide, is possible. Such a seamless arrangement is expected to boost interaction efficiency between the photonic and ionic qubits, resulting in a conversion of quantum information back and forth between those two physical forms. The project will classify the cutting-edge fiber manufacturing approaches for precision in materializing the quantum-information systems of increasing complexity. IP-QIC is a novel physical arrangement that opens for experimental investigation hitherto unexplored correlation terms in the overall Hamiltonian of the system, describing the coupling of the fiber's optical modes to the ion array's phononic and excitonic states. Thus, IP-QIC will open a niche in quantum algorithmics, exploring the behavior of complex quantum matter, such as strongly correlated and topological, as well as data routing protocols for robust and extensible software-defined quantum networks.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.