The first quantum revolution, enabled by understanding the bizarre quantum mechanics, led to the invention of transistors—the key building blocks of computers. Today, it is widely believed that we are amid the second quantum revolution, heralding the development of unprecedentedly powerful quantum devices such as quantum computers. By harnessing quantum bits (qubits) and their strange quantum behaviors such as superposition and entanglement, quantum computers currently promise to be able to solve several complex problems that even the most powerful supercomputers cannot solve.
Photonics-based platforms are promising candidates for realizing quantum computers owing to their several advantages. For example, unlike other matter-based qubits, photons are inherently robust to environmental noise, which allows the preservation of fragile qubits during computation. By extending the first proposal on linear optical quantum computing, the photonics approach is expected to build a fault-tolerant quantum computer soon. Recently, several researchers have demonstrated various quantum protocols such as on-chip boson sampling and arbitrary two-qubit processing through the use of integrated photonics. Despite these promising demonstrations, however, the realization of a photonic quantum processor integrated on a single chip still faces several crucial challenges.
In our group, we strive to develop scalable and integrated photonic quantum processors using hybrid silicon photonics technology with various 2D materials. The development of scalable and integrated quantum computers will have a profound impact on the research landscape of quantum technologies and generate unique opportunities in several industrial sectors such as pharmaceutical and finance.
