Scientists at Heriot-Watt University, including Professor Malik, Dr Leedumrongwatthanakun, and PhD student Suraj Goel, have developed a new method to program optical circuits, which are crucial for future technologies like unhackable communication networks and ultrafast quantum computers. The team used commercial optical fibres, thinner than human hair, to harness the natural scattering behaviour of light, enabling them to program optical circuits in highly precise ways. This research, funded by QuantERA, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, and the European Research Council, could significantly advance areas such as drug development, climate prediction, space exploration, and artificial intelligence.
“But as optical circuits get bigger and more complex, they’re harder to control and make – and this can affect their performance. Our research shows an alternative – and more versatile – way of engineering optical circuits, using a process that occurs naturally in nature.”
The Power of Light in Computing
Optical circuits that compute with light, rather than electricity, are seen as the next significant advancement in computing technology, according to Professor Malik. As optical circuits become larger and more complex, they become harder to control and manufacture, which can affect their performance. The team’s research shows an alternative and more versatile way of engineering optical circuits, using a process that occurs naturally in nature. When light enters an optical fibre, it gets scattered and mixed in complex ways. By learning this complex process and precisely shaping the light that enters the optical fibre, the team found a way to carefully engineer a circuit for light inside this disorder.
Optical Circuits and Quantum Technologies
Optical circuits are critical to the development of future quantum technologies, which are engineered on a microscopic level by working with individual atoms or photons – particles of light. These technologies include powerful quantum computers with immense processing power and quantum communications networks which can’t be hacked. Optical circuits are needed at the end of quantum communications networks, so the information can be measured after it’s travelled long distances. They are also a key part of a quantum computer, where they are used for performing complex calculations with particles of light.
Quantum Computers and Machine Learning
Quantum computers are expected to unlock significant advances in areas including drug development, climate prediction, and space exploration. Machine learning, a form of artificial intelligence, is another area where optical circuits are used to process vast volumes of data very quickly. The power of light lies in its multiple dimensions, according to Professor Malik. A lot of information can be encoded on a single particle of light, including its spatial structure, temporal structure, and colour. Computing with all of these properties at once unlocks a massive amount of processing power.
Quantum Entanglement and Optical Circuits
The researchers also demonstrated how their programmable optical circuits can be used to manipulate quantum entanglement. This phenomenon occurs when two or more quantum particles, such as photons of light, remain connected even when they’re separated by vast distances. Entanglement plays an important role in many quantum technologies, such as correcting errors inside a quantum computer and enabling the most secure types of quantum encryption.
Collaborative Research Effort
The research was conducted by Professor Malik and his team in the Beyond Binary Quantum Information Lab at Heriot-Watt University, in collaboration with academics from institutions including Lund University in Sweden, Sapienza University of Rome in Italy, and the University of Twente in The Netherlands. The research is published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
The research was funded by QuantERA, a network of 39 public Research Funding Organisations (RFOs) from 31 countries; the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) – Austria’s national funding agency for industrial research and development – and the European Research Council (ERC) – the European Union’s funding organisation for frontier research.
“Light can carry a lot of information, and optical circuits that compute with light – instead of electricity – are seen as the next big leap in computing technology,” explains Professor Mehul Malik, an experimental physicist and Professor of Physics at Heriot-Watt’s School of Engineering and Physical Sciences.
“When light enters an optical fibre, it gets scattered and mixed in complex ways,” Professor Malik explains. “By learning this complex process and precisely shaping the light that enters the optical fibre, we’ve found a way to carefully engineer a circuit for light inside this disorder.”
“Optical circuits are needed at the end of quantum communications networks, for example, so the information can be measured after it’s travelled long distances,” Professor Malik explains. “They are also a key part of a quantum computer, where they are used for performing complex calculations with particles of light.”
“We can encode a lot of information on a single particle of light,” he explained. “On its spatial structure, on its temporal structure, on its colour. And if you can compute with all of those properties at once, that unlocks a massive amount of processing power.” – Professor Mehul Malik
Summary
Scientists at Heriot-Watt University have developed a new method to programme optical circuits, which are crucial for future technologies like quantum computers and secure communication networks, by manipulating the natural scattering behaviour of light within hair-thin optical fibres. This research could significantly enhance the processing power of quantum computers and the security of quantum communication networks, potentially leading to breakthroughs in fields such as drug development, climate prediction, space exploration, and artificial intelligence.
- Scientists at Heriot-Watt University, including Professor Mehul Malik, Dr Saroch Leedumrongwatthanakun, and PhD student Suraj Goel, have discovered a new method to programme optical circuits, which are crucial for future technologies like unhackable communication networks and ultrafast quantum computers.
- The team used commercial optical fibres, thinner than human hair, to transport data using light. They harnessed the natural scattering behaviour of light within the fibre to programme the circuits in highly precise ways.
- Optical circuits are essential for quantum technologies, which work with individual atoms or photons. They are used in quantum computers for complex calculations and at the end of quantum communication networks for measuring information after long-distance travel.
- Quantum computers, expected to bring significant advances in areas like drug development, climate prediction, and space exploration, can process vast volumes of data very quickly due to the multiple dimensions of light.
- The team also demonstrated how their programmable optical circuits can manipulate quantum entanglement, a phenomenon crucial for many quantum technologies.
- The research was conducted in collaboration with academics from Lund University, Sapienza University of Rome, and the University of Twente, and was funded by QuantERA, the Austrian Research Promotion Agency, and the European Research Council.
- The research is published in the scientific journal Nature Physics.
