Blue Laser Integration with Networked Quantum-Memories (BLINQ)

光子量子计算面临的最大挑战之一是如何在现有单光子源的基础上扩展这些系统。单光子是量子信息的天然载体。它们对热噪声有很强的抵抗力，可以在室温下使用，并通过光纤网络传输。这使得它们特别适合于纠缠的产生、操纵和远距离传输。然而，现有的单光子源是概率的；它们不能根据需要产生稳定的高质量、可预测的光子流。这迫使开发人员建造具有大量冗余的光子量子计算机，一遍又一遍地重复底层组件的许多副本，希望至少部分操作成功。这种方法效率不高，也不容易扩展。ORCA计算公司开发了一种新的量子计算方法，该方法基于专有的光子量子存储器；这是一种按需存储和检索成功的量子态的方法。这种方法降低了量子操作的成本、占地面积和能源使用，并被设计为使用成熟的电信组件可扩展；但它仍然需要与存储器交互的兼容单光子来源。Covesion是非线性光学晶体的世界领先制造商，非线性光学晶体是一种用于将标准电信激光转换为单光子用于量子系统的光子学技术。利用南安普顿大学最近开发的尖端制造技术，该项目将开发一种新的光谱定制的非线性晶体，旨在与ORCA的创新量子存储平台进行操作、集成和商业规模。

One of the largest outstanding challenges faced by photonic quantum computing is how to scale these systems based on existing single photon sources.Single photons are natural carriers of quantum information. They are robust to thermal noise, can be used at room-temperature and sent over optical fibre networks. This makes them particularly suitable for generation, manipulation, and long-range transport of entanglement.However, existing sources of single photons are probabilistic; they do not generate a steady stream of high-quality, predictable photons on demand. This forces developers to build photonic quantum computers with large amounts of redundancy, repeating many copies of the underlying components over and over in the hope that at least some portion of the operation is successful. This approach is not efficient or readily scalable.ORCA Computing have developed a new approach to quantum computing based on a proprietary photonic quantum memory; a means of storing and retrieving successful quantum states on demand. This approach reduces the cost, footprint, and energy use of quantum operations and is designed to be scalable using mature telecoms components; but it still requires a compatible source of single photons that are tailored to interact with the memory.Covesion are a world leading manufacturer of nonlinear optical crystals, a photonics technology used to convert standard telecoms lasers to single photons for use with quantum systems. Using cutting-edge fabrication techniques recently developed at the University of Southampton, this project will develop a new class of spectrally-tailored nonlinear crystals designed to operate, integrate, and commercially scale with ORCA's innovative quantum memory platform.