On April 18th, reports from the media reveal that a research team from the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, in collaboration with Tsinghua University and the Shanghai Institute of Microsystem and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, has successfully developed the world's first gallium nitride quantum light source chip. This groundbreaking achievement not only signifies a new milestone for the "Gingko-1" metropolitan quantum internet research platform at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China but also injects fresh vitality into the global development of quantum internet technology.
Quantum internet, with its unique principles of "quantum teleportation" and "quantum entanglement," offers advantages in information transmission that traditional internet cannot match, such as higher security, greater accuracy in information retrieval, and faster information processing. As a core component of quantum internet, the quantum light source chip acts like a "quantum light bulb," providing users with the capability for quantum information interaction.
Through iterative optimization of electron beam exposure and dry etching processes, the research team overcame technical challenges such as gallium nitride crystal film growth and waveguide sidewall and surface scattering losses. They successfully applied gallium nitride material to the development of quantum light source chips for the first time. Compared to widely used materials like gallium nitride, the gallium nitride quantum light source chip achieved significant breakthroughs in key parameters such as output wavelength range, increasing from 25.6 nanometers to 100 nanometers, demonstrating enormous potential for single-chip integration development.
Professor Zhou Qiang from the Institute of Fundamental and Frontier Sciences at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China explained that this breakthrough means "quantum light bulbs" can illuminate more "quantum rooms." By providing more wavelength resources for quantum internet, this technology can meet the needs of more users to access quantum internet networks at different wavelengths, thereby promoting the construction of high-capacity, long-distance, and high-fidelity quantum internet.
It's worth noting that the team's research in the field of quantum internet has not stopped here. Not long ago, they successfully increased the capacity of solid-state quantum storage in the optical communication band to 1650 modes. This achievement not only breaks the world record in this field but also lays a solid foundation for the future development of quantum internet technology.
This research received funding from multiple sources, including the National Key Research and Development Program, the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Science and Technology Plan of Sichuan Province. It was published in the internationally renowned academic journal "Physical Review Letters" and selected as a "physics highlight" for key promotional coverage, further highlighting the international influence of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China in the field of quantum internet.
