Researchers Study Quantum Computing Without the Waveguide: Diamonds and Brillouin Lasers
A sound boost to extreme laser performance
Points to note…
+ Macquarie University’s Rich Mildren says “This development provides a new pathway towards high power lasers that are extremely efficient and have exquisite frequency properties such as low-phase noise and narrow line width. These are properties needed for applications that demand the highest standards of noise-free frequency properties, like ultra-sensitive detection of gravitational waves or manipulating large arrays of qubits in quantum computers.”
Dr. Zhenxu Bai, lead Ph.D. student on the project, says “We can now begin to think about the design of Brillouin lasers in a new way, rather than as a phenomenon limited to small guided wave structures or as a detrimental effect in fiber lasers.”
+ Another ground-breaking outcome is that the diamond can synthesize very pure frequencies beyond the microwave band. As a consequence of the very high speed of sound in diamond—a dashing 18 km/s—the frequency spacing between the input pump beam and the laser line is many times higher than in other materials. This property can be used to generate frequencies in the millimeter wave band (30-300 GHz) using a technique called photo-mixing.
+ Brillouin laser synthesis of these frequencies is important because there is an intrinsic mechanism that reduces the frequency noise to the levels needed by next-generation radar and wireless communication systems. This has been a major challenge for electronics or other photonic-based generation schemes.
+ The [researchers] are concentrating their future work on expanding the range of laser capability by demonstrating lasers with the higher levels of frequency purity and power needed to support future progress in quantum science, wireless communications and sensing.
Source: Phys.org. Australian Research Council, A sound boost to extreme laser performance…
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