A programmable optical chip with the ability to process photons for quantum computing theory has been developed by  University of Bristol and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone (NTT) researchers.

“A whole field of research has essentially been put onto a single optical chip that is easily controlled. Now anybody can run their own experiments with photons, much like they operate any other piece of software on a computer. They no longer need to convince a physicist to devote many months of their life to build and conduct a new experiment,” said project leader Dr Anthony Laing.

“Once we wrote the code for each circuit, it took seconds to re-programme the chip, and milliseconds for the chip to switch to the new experiment. We carried out a year’s worth of experiments in a matter of hours,” said Bristol post-grad Jacques Carolan.