Entanglement on a chip: Breakthrough promises secure communications and faster computers
Optica
New research, reported today in The Optical Society’s (OSA) new high-impact journal Optica, describes how a team of scientists has developed, for the first time, a microscopic component that is small enough to fit onto a standard silicon chip that can generate a continuous supply of entangled photons. The new design is based on an established silicon technology known as a micro-ring resonator. By tailoring the design of this resonator, the researchers created a novel source of entangled photons that is incredibly small and highly efficient, making it an ideal on-chip component. Creating Entanglement on a Chip To bring these new technologies to fruition, however, requires a new class of entangled photon emitters: ones that can be readily incorporated into existing silicon chip technologies. As a result, this research could facilitate the adoption of quantum information technologies, particularly quantum cryptography protocols, which would ensure secure communications in ways that classical cryptography protocols cannot.