The introduction of fiber optics in quantum computing computers presents a series of incredible improvements.
What is the true scope of quantum computing? Born in 1981, it emerged as an alternative to traditional PCs that has yet to exploit its full potential. For this reason, companies like Google want to take full advantage of the virtues of this trend, as its evolution would lead to major milestones in fields such as artificial intelligence. And, in line with this intention, we have learned that research has succeeded in bringing fiber optics to quantum computing, which is why they have achieved two major advances in different fields. Thus, thanks to this invention from 1792, which was created to connect messages between Lille and Paris in just 16 minutes, quantum computing is about to change forever.
As TechSpot points out, quantum computers depend on quantum bits, a series of elements that operate under quantum principles instead of the traditional ones and zeros. Thanks to this, they can carry out superimposed operations, but this condition requires the use of refrigeration systems costing several million euros for one reason: they operate at temperatures close to absolute zero. For this reason, one of the main problems is heat generation and, thanks to the introduction of fiber optics, they have been able to mitigate much of the consumption generated by the electrical signals traveling through cables.
What additional advantages do fiber optics offer?
Behind this research are researchers from the Austrian Institute of Science and Technology, a team that has made significant progress in reducing a key source of heat in these systems. They were therefore able to replace electrical cables with optical fiber, which is why they are able to transmit signals using light instead of electricity. In this way, they were able to eliminate the generation of heat, but this is not the only advantage: they also had the opportunity to enjoy greater bandwidth and less electromagnetic interference.
However, there is a problem with qubits because they are not capable of processing optical signals directly. Therefore, the team had to use an electro-optical transducer to convert them into understandable microwaves, a breakthrough that increased the number of usable qubits to further raise the computing power of these systems. In turn, it also opens up the possibility of interconnecting multiple quantum computers at room temperature using fiber optic links, but it is still a prototype with room for improvement that, even so, has made clear the impact of introducing several reasonable changes in quantum computing.
