Quantum technologies with hybrid systems

TL;DR

This paper reviews the development, experimental progress, and future prospects of hybrid quantum systems that combine different physical components to enable multi-tasking in quantum information processing, communication, and sensing.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical ideas, experimental realizations, and challenges in hybrid quantum systems, highlighting their potential for multi-tasking quantum technologies.

Findings

Hybrid systems integrate diverse quantum components for enhanced functionalities.

Experimental realizations demonstrate multi-tasking capabilities.

Challenges include coherence preservation and system integration.

Abstract

An extensively pursued current direction of research in physics aims at the development of practical technologies that exploit the effects of quantum mechanics. As part of this ongoing effort, devices for information processing, secure communication and high-precision sensing are being implemented with diverse systems, ranging from photons, atoms and spins to mesoscopic superconducting and nanomechanical structures. Their physical properties make some of these systems better suited than others for specific tasks; thus, photons are well suited for transmitting quantum information, weakly interacting spins can serve as long-lived quantum memories, and superconducting elements can rapidly process information encoded in their quantum states. A central goal of the envisaged quantum technologies is to develop devices that can simultaneously perform several of these tasks, namely, reliably store, process, and transmit quantum information. Hybrid quantum systems composed of different physical components with complementary functionalities may provide precisely such multi-tasking capabilities. This article reviews some of the driving theoretical ideas and first experimental realizations of hybrid quantum systems and the opportunities and the challenges they present and offers a glance at the near- and long-term perspectives of this fascinating and rapidly expanding field.