Researchers at the California Institute of Technology, Hewlett Packard Laboratories and University of Washington have a “proof-of-concept” device that could pave the way for on-chip optical quantum networks [1]. The device is etched in a diamond membrane that was around 300 nanometres thick.

In an optical quantum network, information is carried by photons, as opposed to electrons in more standard devices. The potentials for quantum computing are huge, computers could be millions of times faster at performing certain calculations than they are today.

One of the holy grails in quantum photonics is to develop networks where optical quantum emitters are interconnected via photons Andrei Faraon.

References
[1] Andrei Faraon et al, Quantum photonic devices in single-crystal diamond, 2013 New J. Phys. 15 025010 (link)

Link
Researchers create “building block” of quantum networks (IOP News 08 Feb 2013)