{"id":235769,"date":"2025-12-16T13:25:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:25:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/235769\/"},"modified":"2025-12-16T13:25:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T13:25:12","slug":"tiny-cmos-photonic-chip-could-remove-a-key-bottleneck-in-scaling-quantum-computers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/235769\/","title":{"rendered":"Tiny CMOS Photonic Chip Could Remove a Key Bottleneck in Scaling Quantum Computers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Insider Brief<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Researchers demonstrated a CMOS-fabricated optical phase modulator nearly 100 times thinner than a human hair that enables low-power, scalable laser frequency control critical for large-scale quantum computing, according to a study in Nature Communications.<\/li>\n<li>The chip-efficient device uses microwave-frequency vibrations to precisely modulate laser phase while consuming roughly 80 times less power than many commercial modulators, addressing a key scalability and heat challenge in trapped-ion and neutral-atom quantum systems.<\/li>\n<li>Built entirely using standard semiconductor foundry processes, the technology supports mass production of integrated photonic control hardware and could accelerate the development of quantum computing, sensing, and networking platforms.<\/li>\n<li>Image: Optical chip developed in the study with laser light from an optical fiber array. (Jake Freedman) Story: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.edu\/ecee\/tiny-new-device-could-enable-giant-future-quantum-computers\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">University of Colorado Boulder, College of Engineering and Applied Science<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>PRESS RELEASE \u2014 Researchers have made a major advance in quantum computing with a new device that is nearly 100 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.<\/p>\n<p>Published in the journal\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-025-65937-z.epdf?sharing_token=-uCmU9a5iSexRxaAur_mVtRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0MfgUX29oL1BkN6we3N5_72nlLZAV3bdsNYYJCxZrfH09vQEFgl8cbph13dMmRE4-jSZbjBWEpOTLrF7hlWjwX2F1PAL69Li_ai2LpkytwMyDhOQgmr3rDwQJorqesQfOQ%3D\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Nature Communications<\/a>, the breakthrough optical phase modulators could help unlock much larger quantum computers by enabling efficient control of lasers required to operate thousands or even millions of qubits \u2014 the basic units of quantum information.<\/p>\n<p>Critically, the team of scientists have developed these devices using scalable manufacturing, avoiding complex, custom builds in favor of those used to make the same technology behind processors already found in computers, phones, vehicles, home appliances \u2014 virtually everything powered by electricity and even toasters.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Led by Jake Freedman, an incoming PhD student in the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.edu\/ecee\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Department of Electrical, Computer &amp; Energy Engineering<\/a>; Matt Eichenfield, professor and the Karl Gustafson Endowed Chair in Quantum Engineering; and collaborators from Sandia National Laboratories, including co-senior author Nils Otterstrom, they created a device that is not only tiny and powerful, but also practical and inexpensive to mass-produce.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thequantuminsider.com\/data\/\" onclick=\"_gs(&#039;event&#039;, &#039;DATA IN CONTENT NEW&#039;)\" class=\"responsive-image\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Website-Banner-Quantum-2.gif\" alt=\"Responsive Image\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Their device uses microwave-frequency vibrations, oscillating billions of times per second, to manipulate laser light with extraordinary precision.<\/p>\n<p>These ultra-fast vibrations give researchers direct control over the phase of a laser beam, allowing the chip to generate new laser frequencies with high stability and efficiency, all essential for building quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum networking technologies.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why quantum computers depend on precise optical frequency control<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Among the leading approaches to quantum computing are trapped-ion and trapped-neutral-atom systems, which store information in individual atoms.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>To operate these qubits, researchers \u201ctalk\u201d to each atom using precise laser beams, allowing them to give the instructions to do computations.<\/p>\n<p>Each laser\u2019s frequency must be tuned with extreme accuracy, often to within billionths of a percent or even smaller.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCreating new copies of a laser with very exact differences in frequency is one of the most important tools for working with atom- and ion-based quantum computers,\u201d Freedman said. \u201cBut to do that at scale, you need technology that can efficiently generate those new frequencies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Today, those frequency shifts are made using bulky table-top devices \u00a0that consume significant amounts of microwave power.<\/p>\n<p>Current setups work well for small lab experiments and quantum computers with small numbers of qubits, but they cannot scale to the tens or hundreds of thousands of optical channels required for future quantum computers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re not going to build a quantum computer with 100,000 bulk electro-optic modulators sitting in a warehouse full of optical tables,\u201d Eichenfield said. \u201cYou need some much more scalable ways to manufacture them that don\u2019t have to be hand-assembled and with long optical paths. While you\u2019re at it, if you can make them all fit on a few small microchips and produce 100 times less heat, you\u2019re much more likely to make it work.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The device can generate new frequencies of light through efficient phase modulation that consumes roughly 80 times less microwave power than many commercial modulators.\u00a0<br \/>Using less power reduces heat and allows many more channels to be placed close together, even on a single chip.<\/p>\n<p>Together, these features turn the chip into a powerful, scalable system for managing the complex dance that atoms must perform \u00a0to make quantum computations.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Built using the world\u2019s most scalable manufacturing technology<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>One of the most significant aspects of the project is that it was produced entirely in a \u201cfab\u201d or foundry, the same type of facility used to make advanced microelectronics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCMOS fabrication is the most scalable technology humans have ever invented,\u201d Eichenfield said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery microelectronic chip in every cell phone or computer has billions of essentially identical transistors on it. So, by using CMOS fabrication, in the future, we can produce thousands or even millions of identical versions of our photonic devices, which is exactly what quantum computing will need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>According to Otterstorm, they\u2019ve taken modulator devices which were previously expensive and power hungry and made them more efficient and less bulky.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re helping to push optics into its own \u2018transistor revolution\u2019, moving away from the optical equivalent of vacuum tubes and towards scalable integrated photonic technologies,\u201d Otterstorm said.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The team is now developing fully integrated photonic circuits that combine frequency generation, filtering and pulse-carving on the same chip, bringing the goal of a complete operational chip closer to reality.<\/p>\n<p>Moving forward, they will collaborate with quantum computing companies to test versions of these chips inside state-of-the-art\u00a0of trapped-ion and trapped-atom\u00a0quantum computers.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis device is one of the final pieces of the puzzle,\u201d Freedman said. \u201cWe\u2019re getting close to a truly scalable photonic platform capable of controlling very large numbers of qubits.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This project was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy through the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandia.gov\/quantum\/qsa\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Quantum Systems Accelerator<\/a>\u00a0program, a National Quantum Initiative Science Research Center.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Insider Brief Researchers demonstrated a CMOS-fabricated optical phase modulator nearly 100 times thinner than a human hair that&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235770,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[74],"tags":[11268,18,19,17,32293,82,86589],"class_list":{"0":"post-235769","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-technology","8":"tag-cmos","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-ie","11":"tag-ireland","12":"tag-laser","13":"tag-technology","14":"tag-university-of-colorado-boulder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115729473518048322","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235769","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235769"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235769\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235770"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235769"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235769"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235769"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}