The new OPTOLogic project aims to develop a new technological platform with quantum devices and ultrashort light pulses to reduce energy loss in electronic circuits.

Since the late 1980s, energy consumption in the modern electronics industry has increased drastically. To compound the issue, electronic circuits waste, dissipate, or lose most of the energy these devices consume during the transport of charge or electricity. Knowing that our information-based society is growing at exponential rates, translating into increasing demands for consumer electronic products, studies have estimated a projected energy consumption increase of 20% by 2030. Experts expect this amount to surpass the total energy production available worldwide. This presents a major problem that demands a quick and affordable solution.

In light of this challenge, the fundamental aim of this project is to develop novel quantum materials with the express purpose of creating a new class of dissipation-less quantum devices. To achieve this, we will leverage structured ultrafast pulses of light to both induce and precisely control the topological states of these materials. In essence, topological states represent the diverse forms that matter can adopt, depending on the specific arrangement of atoms within. By manipulating these states, we anticipate a significant reduction in the major energy losses that currently plague electronic circuits.

 

A new class of dissipation-less devices

Researchers have proposed different solutions using conventional semiconductor materials to solve this major challenge, but none have proven effective enough. The recently launched OPTOlogic project is searching to overcome this challenge and fulfill two major goals: mitigate dissipation and save energy. Coordinated by ICREA Prof. at ICFO Jens Biegert, the consortium is comprised of ICFO, Max Plank Society (MPG), French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission (CEA), Forschungsverbund Berlin (FVB-MBI), and LightOn. This multi-disciplinary team of experts and SMEs unites world-leading experimental, theoretical, and industrial expertise in condensed matter physics, ultrafast laser technology, attoscience, quantum optics and computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.

To achieve this, the consortium will develop a new technological platform that leverages the best aspects of topology to avoid energy loss in electronic transport. They will also incorporate light-wave-electronics to overcome limitations imposed by material properties and utilize quantum materials with quantum properties 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 findings in ultrafast lasers, nanotechnology, and adapted quantum computing architecture to develop this new device. As ICREA Prof. at ICFO Jens Biegert remarks,

“The breakthrough of such device could result in a thousand-fold more efficient electronic circuit, with simultaneous million-to-billion-fold increase in computing clock speeds, which could move and store information with minimal energy expense, whilst achieving dramatically increased computing power”.