Lighting the way
The full-blown quantum computer promises to solve global challenges in the health, chemistry, biology and energy sectors. Several technological platforms for constructing the quantum computer are emerging, with different strengths and drawbacks.
The companies PsiQuantum and Quandela are pursuing a photonic platform, where the quantum bits (qubits) are encoded on single photons. To produce the single photons, Quandela employs a solid-state semiconductor-based single-photon source emitting single photons to be subsequently used in the photonic quantum computation.
However, a main limitation for the photonic quantum computing platform preventing upscaling to a large number of qubits is the low efficiency of existing single-photon sources.
QLIGHT addresses the existing commercial need for single-photon sources featuring near-unity efficiency to construct the quantum computer. Benefitting from expert theoretical knowledge of light-matter interaction, DTU will design, fabricate and characterize single-photon sources with world-record 0.9 efficiency enabling construction of a photonic quantum computer with 100 qubits.
The semiconductor material needed for the fabrication process will be produced by DFM using a recently installed molecular beam epitaxy machine. The devices fabricated at DTU will be implemented in a photonic quantum computer and tested by Quandela. DTU will patent the new designs, and the generated IP will be commercialized via a startup company producing and selling sources or via licensing agreements, with Quandela as the first targeted customer.
Goals
- Technological: Development of a deterministic fabrication platform for the key component of the photonic quantum computer allowing for scalable high yield SPS production combined with world record device performance practical as well as plug-and-play implementation in the lab.
- Commercial: Device deployment in real photonic quantum computing architecture at Quandela. 2-4 patents covering central SPS design and implementation ideas developed in the project. Specific business/commercialization plan for exploiting the IP generated in the project.
Demand
The solution of a series of global societal and economical challenges requires computational power beyond what is offered by existing classical computers. For instance, within drug discovery in the health sector, and within chemistry, and material science, the classical computer cannot simulate the behavior of large molecules and new materials due to the exponential increase in computational complexity with the system size.
Other real-world problems, such as power flow optimization, supply chain management, traffic routing, and financial modelling, involve complex optimization challenges that are infeasible for classical computers to solve optimally within a reasonable time. Furthermore, the training of AI models, with large datasets and complex neural networks require enormous computational resources unavailable today.
Finally, within personalized medicine the vast amount of genomic and patient data requires massive computational power for analysis, limiting our present ability to make precise, personalized medical predictions or treatments.
However, where existing classical computers are struggling, it is expected that these challenges can be overcome by the emergence of the quantum computer, which promises exponential speedups and enhanced computational abilities for tasks ranging from simulating quantum systems to solving optimization problems, improving AI, advancing cryptography, and accelerating scientific discovery.
Societal impact
Quantum technology promises to benefit society in the next 1-2 decades within novel enabling sensor, communication, and computing technologies. These all exploit entirely new physical modalities and will disrupt altogether the efficiency and security with which information is acquired, transmitted, and processed. It’s considered a key component for solving imminent global challenges relating to health, climate and sustainability.
The project’s long-term impact covers various sectors. For the following sustainable development goals quantum computing has the potential to:
- Zero hunger: Optimize supply chains, improve crop yields, and reduce food waste through advanced data modeling and problem-solving, contributing to the goal of zero hunger.
- Good health and well-being: Model complex molecules and chemical reactions at an unprecedented scale. This could accelerate drug discovery, potentially leading to cures for diseases and new treatments, supporting global health efforts.
- Affordable and clean energy: Optimize energy systems more effectively than classical computers, leading to breakthroughs in energy efficiency and clean energy production.
- Industry, innovation, and infrastructure: Lead to the discovery of new materials that are more sustainable, efficient, multifunctional and feature improved physical properties, and quantum algorithms can optimize complex supply chains, reducing waste, improving efficiency, and fostering innovation in manufacturing and logistics.
- Climate action: Significantly enhance climate modeling, enabling better predictions and simulations of climate change scenarios.
Economy
Quantum sensors and quantum communication technologies are currently the most mature of the emerging technologies and are already on the commercial market. While universal “quantum computers” for real-world applications may still be 10-15 years away, quantum computing carries by far the largest potential to impact society across all sectors.
Quantum computing offers not only an advancement in computing power but also a completely new computational paradigm. ”Quantum advantage,” signifying the performance of calculations using quantum hardware that cannot be performed using conventional computing technology, has been achieved several times for problems so far mainly of academic interest.
In the short term “quantum simulators”, designed for handling specific tasks, are expected to enable an early practical advantage for certain types of hard computational problems, and applications have already been identified and demonstrated within finance, logistics, and chemistry.
The first direct users of quantum technology will most likely be research institutions and high tech companies, after which the general society will start benefiting, directly and indirectly, a few years later.
Huge commercial revenue growth is expected in all areas of the quantum market within the next 10-15 years, and the growth in terms of employees working in the quantum area is expected to grow at similar ~30% yearly rates.
