When it comes to modern technology, very few devices have more gravitas or comic book energy than supercomputers. These powerful devices are capable of tremendous number crunching power, and have even discovered an otherwise invisible flaw in jet engines that was reducing their overall efficiency. But thanks to a new photonic device developed by researchers at MIT, quantum supercomputers could evolve to a much larger scale than anything we’ve seen before.
Photonic chips use light (photons) fired from miniature lasers to process information instead of electricity. Typically, this laser light operates inside small paths known as optical waveguides on these types of chips. It’s not an efficient process, as the light is limited to on-chip. However, MIT reports that this new photonic tech allows the light to be transmitted off the chip in a controlled way. This could benefit quantum supercomputing, where traditional systems are limited to controlling only a small number of laser beams at a time. Photonic tech enables thousands of beams to be transmitted all at once, which means quantum computing could move far past its own limitations.
To make this possible, the MIT team, along with a group of collaborators, built microscopic structures on the chip. Referred to as “ski jumps,” these structures curve upward, catch the light as it’s fed through, and send it out into open space. But it’s not just the shape of the jumps that allow for the light to properly exit, as they’re actually made from two different flexible materials. As more controls are applied, the beams can quickly be turned on and off, giving researchers the scalable control they’ve been looking for.
The benefits and challenges of photonic computing
Advancements in photonic technology couldn’t come at a better time for supercomputers. Processing heavy AI workloads, in addition to other other complex tasks, have pushed today’s systems beyond what they can often handle. But photonic computing is a more modern approach as it utilizes light instead of electricity, unlike a traditional supercomputer. This makes photonic computing tech not just more more energy efficient but faster as well.
In contrast, quantum systems, which could finally solve AI’s planet-polluting problem by using fewer resources to accomplish the same tasks, are still in their early stages. Though they would benefit from photonic tech, these quantum systems may already be falling behind. That’s because photonic computing technology is proving to be the ideal solution for various operations. This includes the increasingly unpopular data centers that are springing up across America; using photonic tech in these centers would soften the impact these facilities have on those that don’t want them in their communities. Additionally, bandwidth and latency are already seeing vast improvements thanks to photonic tech, and there’s even progress being made toward developing devices that operate with photons exclusively.
But while photonic computing has its advantages, there are some challenges involved as well. Manufacturing the components is a highly detailed and exacting process, which requires perfect execution every time. One minor flaw can result in a defective chip, which would result in having to start over from scratch. Additionally, it’s currently inefficient to fabricate photonic devices because of their need for built-in temperature control technology. As a result, real-world adoption of fully photonic designs is currently more of a long-term aspiration rather than a practical goal.
