Single Qubit Quantum Gates Implemented with Silicon Micro Ring Resonators

Abstract

Quantum computers offer a new way of doing information processing by harnessing the unique properties of quantum mechanics, opening new possibilities for solving computationally difficult but useful problems more efficiently than a traditional classical computer (such as simulating molecular interactions). There are several ways of physically implementing a quantum computer, each with its own advantages and disadvantages. An approach which uses photons (i.e., particles of light), known as Linear Optical Quantum Computing (LOQC), has gained traction in the last decade. This approach uses integrated photonic technologies to design chips that can manipulate bits of quantum information – known as qubits – which are encoded in light. My undergraduate thesis research has focused on the investigation of new implementations of single qubit quantum gates – the physical structures which manipulate single qubits to do computation. Using a nano-scale silicon photonic device known as a micro-ring resonator, I have developed a novel configuration which in theory, should be able to implement any single qubit operation. Realizing single qubit gates using micro ring resonators could prove to provide a large improvement in the scalability of an integrated photonic quantum computer. My research has shown an almost 200 times increase in the on-chip density of single qubit gates over the current state of the art in the literature can be achieved by using a ring resonator architecture. This research may lay the foundation for future work on a new scalable implementation of quantum computer that uses light to solve the world’s most difficult problems.