About EQUBITFLY

The solid-state systems presently considered for quantum computation are built from localized two-level systems; prime examples are superconducting qubits or semiconducting quantum dots. Due to the fact that they are localized, they require a fixed amount of hardware per qubit. In contrast, photon-based qubits are the only existing quantum technology that uses propagating particles. In this case, the manipulation is performed through a set of gates towards which they propagate.

Propagating or “flying” qubits have distinct advantages with respect to localised ones: the hardware footprint depends only on the gates, and the qubits themselves (photons) can be created on demand making these systems easily scalable.

Photons, however, travel so fast, that their trajectories need to be set in advance and render in-flight manipulations impossible. Moreover, they do not interact directly with each other such that photon entanglement becomes a delicate issue, and the ‘all-linear’ quantum optics approach usually requires post-selection methods.

A qubit that would combine the advantages of localised two-level systems and flying qubits would provide a paradigm shift in quantum technology. In the long term, the availability of these objects would unlock the possibility to build an universal quantum computer that combines a small, fixed hardware footprint and an arbitrarily large number of qubits with long-range interactions, representing an unprecedent market opportunity.