Xanadu, a leading photonic quantum computing company, and HyperLight, the developer of the TFLN Chiplet™ platform, have jointly achieved a major breakthrough in the development of thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) photonic chips, demonstrating enhanced performance metrics. These advancements are essential for addressing existing challenges in scaling photonic quantum hardware.
Through focused fabrication process development, Xanadu and HyperLight have achieved waveguide losses below 2 dB/m in thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN). The associated switch loss is approximately 20 milli-decibel (mdB), representing one of the lowest loss values reported for an electro-optic switch used in photonic quantum computing applications. Meeting the stringent requirements of future utility-scale quantum computers, this result was accomplished in a high-volume semiconductor production facility capable of producing wafers at scales needed for commercial photonic quantum computing.
Zachary Vernon, CTO of Hardware at Xanadu, said, “Our long-standing collaboration with HyperLight has been instrumental in achieving our hardware roadmap. The unprecedented performance we’ve achieved with these new photonic chips sets a new benchmark for performance in the industry and brings us closer to delivering utility-scale photonic quantum computers.”
Xanadu has been at the forefront of quantum computing, recently demonstrating the world’s first fibre-networked photonic quantum computer, Aurora. Aurora showcased the scalability and networkability of Xanadu’s architecture for a photonic quantum computer, and leveraged the advanced TFLN Chiplet™ platform from HyperLight. This latest achievement with HyperLight builds on the foundational successes that led to the Aurora demonstration by providing ever higher performing chips necessary for future generations of photonic quantum computers.
“This achievement of HyperLight and Xanadu is an example of the breadth of impact of TFLN technology,” said Mian Zhang, CEO of HyperLight. “Synergized with high-volume datacom and telecom applications, HyperLight’s TFLN Chiplet Platform is uniquely designed to enable unprecedented performance and applications like quantum computing which our partner Xanadu is pursuing.”
This breakthrough is a testament to the importance of collaboration in driving the rapid progress required to unlock the potential of quantum computing. It also marks another significant milestone in Xanadu’s hardware development this year and further reinforces its position as a global leader in quantum hardware.
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