Optical Interconnects for Scalable Quantum Processing:

Professor Kiyoul Yang

Assistant Professor of Electrical Engineering, Harvard SEAS

Professor Mikhail Lukin

Joshua and Beth Friedman University Professor

Co-Director of the Quantum Science and Engineering Initiative, Harvard Physics Department

Project Overview

The problem: Supercomputers, clusters of individual computers networked together, are used to process large amounts of data with applications in weather prediction, cryptography, and drug development. For quantum computing to achieve its full potential in a quantum supercomputer, a similar level of connectivity will be needed.

Proposed solution: Optical interconnects are being developed in the laboratories of Prof. Mikhail Lukin and Prof. Kiyoul Yang. With these interconnects, hundreds of separate quantum processors can operate as a single, larger quantum processor. Further developments are expected to increase the range over which these connections operate, enabling an “internet” for quantum computers.

Interested in this technology? Send a note to grid@harvard.edu. They are currently seeking partners in academia and industry to collaborate on further developments.