Major Step Forward for Quantum Technology
A team of researchers from Finland, Sweden, and Japan have developed a semiconductor component in which quantum information can be efficiently exchanged between electron spin and photons at room temperature and above. The new method, described in an article recently published in Nature Photonics, is based on amplifying the spin polarisation in a semiconductor structure made up of InAs quantum dots and nitrogen-containing semiconductor compounds. The component was fabricated by researchers at Tampere University using the molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) technique.
“Conventional electronics carry and store information using transistors that switch between states, controlled by electrons with a negative charge. This technology is seeing its limits in terms of processing speed and capacity, as well as energy needs (a major example is the huge increase of electricity demand attributed to data canters). Emerging quantum technologies address these challenges by employing the quantum states of photons or the spin of electrons for information processing. Photonic quantum systems are already having a strong impact in new applications areas, such as quantum computers, quantum cryptography, or quantum sensing. On the other hand, spintronics, which exploits the quantum states of electrons stored in their momentum, could offer the needed quantum interface to electronic world. Connecting photonic and electronic quantum platforms is instrumental for the advance of quantum technologies towards practical applications”, says Mircea Guina, professor in the Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences at Tampere University.