A photonic link for silicon donor-based quantum technologies

用于基于硅供体的量子技术的光子链路

• 批准号: RGPIN-2016-05525
• 负责人: Simmons, Stephanie
• 金额: $ 2.33万
• 依托单位: Simon Fraser University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2020
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2020-01-01 至 2021-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=709768
• 关键词: photonic; link; silicon; donor; based

Silicon transistors, the essential building block of most modern electronic devices, cannot shrink much further without being rendered inoperable by quantum mechanics. This classical-quantum threshold in fact presents a tremendous opportunity: if we harness quantum mechanics, rather than attempt to avoid it, we could build a quantum computer, which could accomplish certain computational tasks that would otherwise be forever impractical. Numerous fundamental calculations for drug simulations, big-data optimization, linear algebra, machine learning, and more, would become exponentially faster and therefore possible to solve on a realistic timescale. One of the most promising candidate quantum bits (qubits') are made from donor impurities in silicon: the very atomic defects preventing the smallest transistors from working properly. I have shown that these qubits have the longest solid-state lifetimes (>3 hrs) and the best solid-state quantum control properties (>99.9% accuracy) ever demonstrated. These excellent individual qubits also have key commercial advantages: they are atomically identical, and can be fabricated using the same techniques used to build modern silicon transistors. This is important because quantum computers will still need on-chip integrated “classical” computing power to operate effectively. What is urgently lacking is a reliable way to build connections, or couplings', between these atomic quantum bits we need to invent something equivalent to a quantum transistor in silicon. My proposed solution to accomplish this is radically new. I plan to link silicon atomic qubits by mediating their interactions via photon qubits. This can be done in a number of ways: one way is to swap the quantum information between the atomic and photonic qubits. This strategy will make use of photonic structures in silicon which can, for example, direct light along predetermined paths within a silicon device. These structures, which are very similar to the ones developed for fibre-optics devices, could reliably link multiple atomic qubits. The designs are simple and the experimental tolerances are large. The biggest risk to my research plan is its urgency the first research group to demonstrate a quantum transistor in silicon would gain an insurmountable first-mover advantage. The success of this research plan would launch silicon atomic qubits to the frontrunner position in the international race toward a large-scale quantum computer. The resulting revolution in computing power would have an enormous effect on the whole world, in ways we cannot yet predict. Imagine predicting the ubiquity of modern information technology based only on an evaluation of the first, huge, power-hungry, vacuum-tube-based digital computer in 1946. If quantum-information transistors can be developed for silicon, it will pave the way for silicon to revolutionize the information age once again.

硅晶体管是大多数现代电子设备的基本组成部分，如果不被量子力学破坏，它就无法进一步缩小。这个经典量子阈值实际上提供了一个巨大的机会：如果我们利用量子力学，而不是试图避免它，我们可以建造一台量子计算机，它可以完成某些计算任务，否则将永远不切实际。用于药物模拟、大数据优化、线性代数、机器学习等的许多基础计算将以指数级速度增长，因此可以在现实的时间尺度上解决。 最有希望的候选量子比特（qubit）之一是由硅中的施主杂质制成的：这种原子缺陷会阻止最小的晶体管正常工作。我已经证明，这些量子比特具有有史以来最长的固态寿命（>3小时）和最好的固态量子控制特性（>99.9%的准确度）。这些优秀的单个量子比特也具有关键的商业优势：它们在原子上是相同的，并且可以使用与构建现代硅晶体管相同的技术来制造。这一点很重要，因为量子计算机仍然需要片上集成的“经典”计算能力才能有效运行。 目前迫切缺乏的是一种可靠的方法来建立这些原子量子比特之间的连接或耦合，我们需要发明一种相当于硅量子晶体管的东西。我提出的实现这一目标的解决方案是全新的。我计划通过光子量子位介导硅原子量子位的相互作用来连接它们。这可以通过多种方式实现：一种方式是在原子量子位和光子量子位之间交换量子信息。该策略将利用硅中的光子结构，其可以例如沿着硅器件内的预定路径沿着引导光。这些结构与为光纤设备开发的结构非常相似，可以可靠地连接多个原子量子位。设计简单，实验误差大。我的研究计划面临的最大风险是它的紧迫性第一个演示硅量子晶体管的研究小组将获得不可逾越的先发优势。 这一研究计划的成功将使硅原子量子比特在大型量子计算机的国际竞赛中处于领先地位。由此产生的计算能力革命将对整个世界产生巨大影响，其影响方式我们还无法预测。想象一下，仅仅根据对1946年第一台巨大的、耗电的、基于真空管的数字计算机的评估，就可以预测现代信息技术的普及。如果能为硅开发出量子信息晶体管，它将为硅再次掀起信息时代的革命铺平道路。