Distributed Quantum Computation Architecture Using Semiconductor Nanophotonics

TL;DR

This paper proposes a scalable distributed quantum computing architecture using semiconductor nanophotonics, combining probabilistic and deterministic entanglement methods with topological error correction to address communication and resource challenges.

Contribution

It introduces a hybrid architecture leveraging semiconductor spin qubits and nanophotonics with topological error correction, advancing scalable quantum computing.

Findings

Potential to scale to classically intractable problems

Mitigates resource overheads of probabilistic gates

High-speed operation of nanophotonic hardware

Abstract

In a large-scale quantum computer, the cost of communications will dominate the performance and resource requirements, place many severe demands on the technology, and constrain the architecture. Unfortunately, fault-tolerant computers based entirely on photons with probabilistic gates, though equipped with "built-in" communication, have very large resource overheads; likewise, computers with reliable probabilistic gates between photons or quantum memories may lack sufficient communication resources in the presence of realistic optical losses. Here, we consider a compromise architecture, in which semiconductor spin qubits are coupled by bright laser pulses through nanophotonic waveguides and cavities using a combination of frequent probabilistic and sparse determinstic entanglement mechanisms. The large photonic resource requirements incurred by the use of probabilistic gates for quantum communication are mitigated in part by the potential high-speed operation of the semiconductor nanophotonic hardware. The system employs topological cluster-state quantum error correction for achieving fault-tolerance. Our results suggest that such an architecture/technology combination has the potential to scale to a system capable of attacking classically intractable computational problems.