Photonics fuels quantum computing, and these two companies are the first to go ......

Quantum computing has made impressive progress in recent years, with research teams around the world employing a variety of approaches to build quantum computers capable of solving complex computational tasks. One of the key technologies that has led to these advances is quantum photonics, which uses particles of light (photons) to encode and manipulate quantum information, Photonics utilizes standard optical fibers to enable the direct modularity and networking of quantum photonic chips. This approach simplifies the construction of large-scale quantum systems that support horizontal scaling over long distances, similar to data centers or high-performance computers.

Photonics plays a crucial role in the development of quantum computers by providing a solution that ensures scalable structures. The quantum states of photons are highly resistant to decoherence, making them less susceptible to unexpected interactions that could disrupt their quantum states. Although photons rarely interact naturally with each other, scientists have devised innovative ways for them to communicate and form multi-quantum bit gates. One such method, for example, involves photon storage rings and scattering units, where photons are held in a fiber-optic ring and interact with individual atoms through manipulation; such interactions create entangled states - a fundamental requirement for quantum computing.

Quantum computing utilizes the principles of quantum mechanics to perform complex calculations at unprecedented speeds.

Palo Alto, California-based startup PsiQuantum aims to develop and deploy practical fault-tolerant quantum computers. Photonic technology plays a crucial role in generating, manipulating and measuring these photonic quantum bits using integrated photonic components.

"Quantum photonic chips can be networked using standard optical fiber without the need for transmission," Pete Shadbolt, co-founder and chief strategy officer of PsiQuantum, has said, "This enables direct modularity and decoupling of the system, as well as horizontal scaling over long distances , resulting in a complete system that can be modularized and networked with fiber in much the same way as a data center or high performance computer."

PsiQuantum's fusion-based quantum computing architecture involves generating, entangling and measuring single photons to synthesize quantum error-correcting codes. This architecture requires advanced photonic components, including pseudo-digitally resolved single-photon detectors, high-speed multiport optical switches, and low-temperature-compatible optoelectronic packages.

Quantum photonic technologies can, in most cases, utilize existing infrastructure, tools and know-how for high-volume semiconductor fabrication, packaging and system integration," said Shadbolt. Considering the size and complexity of the systems required for any kind of fault-tolerant quantum computing, the reliability, throughput and process control already established for commercial integrated photonics applications offer tremendous advantages, and in our view this leverage dramatically accelerates the development of large-scale systems and reduces risk."

One of the major advantages of photonic technology in quantum computing is its compatibility with existing infrastructure and high-volume semiconductor production manufacturing processes, says PsiQuantum, which has invested heavily in the development of semiconductor processes for integrated photonics, resulting in highly efficient manufacturing processes. In addition, the physical properties of photonic quantum bits give quantum computing an advantage at scale: the use of photons allows for higher operating temperatures, providing more leeway for cooling power and insulating the system from certain sources of decoherence, improving overall stability.

"Quantum Computing at the Edge."

This portable hardware device is the size of a small power pack and is designed to make neuromorphic hardware affordable for individuals and small businesses. The approach utilizes the dynamics of a stationary nonlinear system called a "reservoir" to map input signals into a higher-dimensional computational space. The company says its "reservoir" computers are easy to train, fast to process, energy-efficient, and able to address challenges such as exploding and vanishing gradients in typical recursive neural networks.

QCI CEO Robert Liscouski (Robert Liscouski) said: "Unlike traditional computers, the reservoir computer achieves computational parity without incurring high power costs during training. Its main advantages are speed, computational power, and the ability to operate at the edge."

The company claims that the Reservoir computer has demonstrated superior performance in time-varying tasks such as chaotic time series prediction, radar signal classification and speech recognition. The company predicts that with the introduction of its Reservoir computer, barriers to traditional reservoir computing applications, including computational cost and technical complexity, will be broken down.

The company says its reservoir computer requires significantly less power (about 80 to 95 percent) than traditional computers and can interface with a host computer via an Ethernet connection. The computer can be used as a computing platform for specific tasks in machine learning, providing higher dimensionality than raw data for more detailed insights and shorter training times. The "Reservoir" computer is targeted for use in a variety of industries, from data analysis and optimization to pattern recognition and prediction.

"The photonics-based approach is a highly iterative and technically advantageous one," said Liskowski. "Leveraging the inherent capabilities of photonics, such as room-temperature operation, intrinsic coherence, and stable entangled photons, our goal is to democratize and make quantum computing technology widely available. We are bringing these innovations to market, capitalizing on the fundamental advantages of photonics."

The company recently announced that it was awarded a subcontract to build and test a photonic sensor instrument for NASA's Ames Research Center. The instrument will provide NASA Ames Research Center with precise measurements of atmospheric particles such as clouds, aerosols, smoke and volcanic ash. Under a previous subcontract with NASA, QCI is also utilizing its Photonic Lidar and Reservoir Photonic Computing Systems to remotely measure the physical properties of different types of snowpack, including density, particle size and depth.

Expansion into different quantum fields such as imaging, sensing and cybersecurity demonstrates the potential of photonics for quantum computing applications.

Photonics' next step in quantum computing ......

Photonics holds great promise for realizing the full potential of quantum computers. While the technology is still in its early stages, it could address the challenges of scalability and decoherence, which are critical for building fault-tolerant quantum computers and bringing quantum computing to the edge.

Different teams are exploring a wide range of potential use cases, including financial applications, machine learning and optimization. As photonics continues to advance, we expect to see powerful quantum error correction techniques and the realization of commercially valuable applications in fields such as chemistry, materials science, energy and healthcare.

[3]https://www.eetimes.eu/photonics-and-quantum-computing-a-new-frontier-in-information-processing/