The researchers created a fully integrated on-chip laser source with photonic circuits

As the world of computing and communications moves closer to the quantum future, researchers face many of the same challenges as classical computing and related semiconductor hurdles. For example, for the use of entangled photon pairs, it is already possible to use miniaturized photon structures for entanglement, but these still require a large external laser source. In a recent first demonstration, a team of researchers created a fully integrated on-chip laser source with photonic circuits that can perform all of these tasks without an external module.

In their paper, published in Nature Photonics, Hatam Mahmudlu and colleagues describe the process in detail. The key to this achievement was finding a way to integrate the laser and photonics aspects into a single hybrid chip while overcoming the (refraction) mismatched waveguide feedback circuit between the InP optical amplifier and Si 3 N 4. The attraction of photon based quantum entanglement should be obvious when one considers the relatively stable nature of these pairs and their compatibility with existing optical (fiber) infrastructure. What was missing was an economical and compact way to create these pairs outside of a laboratory setting. Assuming the method described can be scaled up for mass production, it may only make quantum communication a realistic option outside government organizations.

Source: Laser Net