Researchers ‘Carpet of Light’ May Lead to Less Expensive & More Powerful Quantum Computers

(ScienceDaily) Researchers at the Technical University of Denmark have created a ‘carpet’ of thousands of quantum-mechanically entangled light pulses. The discovery has the potential to pave the way for more powerful quantum computers.
Along with colleagues at bigQ (Center for Macroscopic Quantum States — a Danish National Research Foundation Center of Excellence), center leader Prof. Ulrik Lund Andersen is working on understanding and utilizing macroscopic quantum effects.
The researchers describe have succeeded in creating entangled, squeezed light at room temperature– a discovery that could pave the way for less expensive and more powerful quantum computers. An optical quantum computer will not require costly and advanced refrigeration technology. At the same time, its information-carrying light-based qubits in the laser light will be much more durable than their ultra-cold electronic relatives used in superconductors.
“Through the distribution of the generated cluster state in space and time, an optical quantum computer can also more easily be scaled to contain hundreds of qubits. This makes it a potential candidate for the next generation of larger and more powerful quantum computers,” adds Ulrik Lund Andersen.