Start of the project OPTOlogic
Breakthrough in Energy-Efficient Computing Through Light-Induced Topological Quantum Devices
About 10 % of the world’s energy production is used to power electronic circuits that carry out logic operations for the global internet and in consumer devices. The EU-funded OPTOlogic project aims to develop a computing architecture that takes advantage of light-induced and controlled topology for energy-efficient logic operations. To artificially induce and control topologically protected states, the project will create a new class of dissipation-less quantum devices. Specifically, spatially and temporally structured ultrafast pulses of light will generate these devices. Furthermore, these quantum devices will use minimal energy to move and store information, and as a result, they will dramatically increase computing power. Moreover, by increasing the energy efficiency and speed of logical operations, the project could have a significant economic, environmental, and social impact.
Coordinated by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Jens Biegert, the OPTOlogic consortium includes researchers at ICFO, the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Plank Society, the French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) at Saclay, The Max-Born Institute Berlin, and the company LightOn, thus uniting world-leading experimental, theoretical, and industrial expertise in condensed matter physics, ultrafast x-ray spectroscopy, attoscience, quantum optics and computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
A consortium of partners
In addition, the consortium aims to develop a new technological platform that leverages the best aspects of topology to avoid energy loss in electronic transport and light-wave electronics. Consequently, this platform will overcome limitations imposed by material properties and utilize quantum materials with properties ideal for novel information storage and processing. They will build a novel topological-Qubit, the first elementary building block for the development of this innovative quantum technology, and search to perform quantum logic operations that can surpass those limitations imposed by simple binary operations. The project will use the latest technology in ultrafast x-ray and attoscience, nanotechnology, and quantum computing to develop this new platform.
The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 899794.
Topological quantum
