Quantum computing, for example, is based on logical elements built on qubits, the quantum cousin of a conventional transistor-based logic bit. Qubits are being implemented in all sorts of ways using many physical manifestations, from electron-based superconducting qubit implementations to trapped-ion-based qubits, photon-based qubits, and many others. This churning field is already yielding results, allowing certain formerly intractable computations to be performed in practical amounts of time.
Yet few if any of the implementations pursued today are particularly data intensive. The sort of firehose of data typical of many computation applications has not come to the quantum world yet. At first glance, this might seem like an inherent limiter for the intersection of photonics and at least these types of quantum computers. But, to begin, optical fibers offer many attractions for quantum computing, even for qubit implementations that don’t involve photons: optical fibers are adiabatic, non-conductive, and EMI-quiet; they can convey information and energy without Ohmic losses, and interrogation and control of superconducting qubits by fiber has been demonstrated. Silicon photonic structures, such as filters, splitters, modal demodulators, and switches, can be constructed in cryogenic-compatible formats for those quantum computing implementations that require cryo operational temperatures. Potentially, these elements could be combined with other silicon-based functionalities including refrigerators on the same chip.