Quantum Computing More Efficient Circuits for AI and Quantum Computers

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Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Engineering IOF have further developed thin-film lithium niobate (LNOI) to build integrated optical circuits within it. This is a breakthrough for photonic integrated circuits, enabling energy-efficient, fast, and scalable photonic systems.

Photonic integrated circuits (PIC) differ from electronic ICs: They have waveguides instead of electrical conductors, and the light signals are processed in small interferometers instead of transistors or gates. Both waveguides and interferometers can be excellently manufactured in lithium niobate. Researchers at the Fraunhofer IOF can realize these structures in thin-film lithium niobate, which has been grown on an insulating material (LNOI). The process uses semiconductor manufacturing techniques and is therefore immediately scalable.

Quantum Computers With Photons

"With LNOI technology, we can manufacture photonic components with very high bandwidth, low power loss, and compact design," comments Dr. Falk Eilenberger, Head of the Micro- and Nanostructured Optics Department at Fraunhofer IOF. "These are properties that are crucial for future applications in communication and data processing," adds Dr. Frank Setzpfandt. Setzpfandt is a researcher at the Friedrich Schiller University Jena. Together with other partners, the teams around him and Eilenberger are actively involved in the research project PhoQuant, a project funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology, and Space (BMFTR, formerly BMBF), within which the technology, among other things, is being developed and is also expected to be applied.

PhoQuant aims to develop a quantum computer that uses optical technologies. Such a photonic quantum computer does not require the elaborate cooling needed for other quantum computers. It uses quantum light sources that generate special light states and processes them in integrated LNOI structures. The optical signals generated can be measured as a result or can interact with other qubits in the quantum internet.

Optical Circuits for Data Centers And AI

The LNOI technology also works for normal laser signals. Laser technology has revolutionized data transmission over the past decades and has significantly contributed to the fact that transmission rates in the range of Gbit and Tbit/s are possible today.

Some properties of light now help to make data processing at the processor level significantly faster. It is important that light signals enable much higher bandwidth. Since light signals of different wavelengths can be easily superimposed, optical processors can even process multiple signals simultaneously in the same 'line,' or from the same waveguide.

The LNOI technology developed in the PhoQuant project at Fraunhofer IOF has the advantage of allowing processing speeds in the 100 GHz range. The control voltage for the modulators is in the range of a few volts—a particular feature of the Jena technology. "This offers significant advantages in the application of optical integrated circuits," explains Dr. Eilenberger. In addition to the modulators, the Jena team is developing a whole range of integrated optical components based on LNOI.

The optical circuits are suitable for various specific tasks—including typical artificial intelligence tasks. “In the future, optical computers will be able to perform such tasks faster and significantly more energy-efficiently than conventional circuits,” describes Dr. Eilenberger the future of LNOI technology. (mk)

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