Photonic quantum processors, devices that can process information leveraging quantum mechanical effects and particles of light (photons), have shown promise for numerous applications, ranging from computations and communications to the simulation of complex quantum systems.
To be deployed in real-world settings, however, these photonic chips should reliably integrate many deterministic and indistinguishable single-photon sources on a single chip.
So far, achieving this has proved highly challenging. Most such photonic quantum chips developed so far utilize solid-state single-photon emitters that are limited by so-called spectral diffusion (i.e., the random "wandering" of their emission frequency).
This essentially means that they rarely exhibit lifetime-limited transitions, conditions in which the color spread of photons is determined solely by the natural excited-state lifetime of emitters. Notably, this condition is necessary for the reliable on-chip integration of indistinguishable single-photon sources.
Researchers at Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan Institute of Quantum Technology and Zhejiang University have introduced a new molecular chip that could overcome the limitations of previously introduced photonic quantum processors.
Their chip, presented in a paper in Nature Nanotechnology, integrates light-emitting single molecules with single-mode waveguides, narrow optical components that guide in integrated circuits.
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