Silicon chip enables mass-manufacture of quantum technologies

Scientists from the University of Bristol’s Centre for Quantum Photonics have developed a silicon chip that will pave the way to the mass-manufacture of miniature quantum chips. The announcement was made at the launch of the 2012 British Science Festival [4 to 9 September].

Riding herd on photons

To prevent microwaves passing through it from reflecting backward, a new 'metamaterial' uses antennas of alternating orientations (top) that are connected by amplifier circuits (bottom).

Computer chips that use light to move data would be much more energy efficient and possibly even faster than today’s chips, which use electricity. One of the difficulties in realizing them, however, is that light moving through a “waveguide” — unlike electrons moving through a wire — can reflect backward, interfering with subsequent transmissions and even disrupting the operation of the laser that emitted it.

Turing machine gives order to chaotic Penrose universe

A theoretical computer built in a mixed-up mathematical universe might not sound like the most practical invention. But the discovery shows that computation can turn up in the most unlikely places, which in turn might spur more realistic models of physical and chemical processes.