Nature Photonics Reports on The Rise of Integrated Quantum Photonic Chips

(Nature)
Integrated quantum photonic chips offer the promise of a convenient, scalable platform for performing tasks such as quantum communication and information processing. This special focused issue of Nature Photonics reports on the progress with the developments in integrated quantum photonics (IQP).
Jianwei Wang and colleagues provide a general overview and introduction to IQP circuits and summarize the present development of quantum hardware based on IQP chips. IQP circuits are also a desirable platform for chip-based quantum communications. However, fully integrated chip-based quantum communication has not yet been realized.
There is no ideal material that simultaneously delivers the required performance for all optical components such as light sources, arithmetic elements and photon detectors. As a result, it is more realistic to fabricate devices by assembling optical components made with different material systems, that is, hybrid integrated quantum photonic (HIQP) devices. In another Review Article, Ali Elshaari and colleagues summarize the progress of HIQP integration and discuss important design considerations including optical connectivity.
The issue’s articles indicate that progress is being made, and Nature Photonics hopes that this focus issue will help to further advance the study of IQP.