ORNL scientists successfully combined key quantum photonic capabilities on a single chip for the first time. Credit: ORNL, U.S. Dept. of Energy

Silicon Chip Breakthrough: Quantum Photonics for Fiber Networks

Silicon photonic integrated circuit developed by ORNL scientists combines a bidirectionally pumped microring resonator with polarization splitter-rotators to generate broadband, high-fidelity polarization-entangled photons across 116 frequency-bin pairs compatible with existing fiber-optic networks, marking a significant advancement toward a scalable quantum internet.

Dougal Main and Beth Nichol working on the distributed quantum computer. Credit John Cairns

Breakthrough in Distributed Quantum Computing

Physicists achieved a quantum computing breakthrough by successfully connecting separate quantum processors through photonic links, enabling quantum teleportation of logical gates between modules and demonstrating the first distributed quantum computer system, which could potentially scale up without the limitations of cramming millions of qubits into a single device.