Physicists from St Petersburg University win Rosatom accelerator programme for quantum computing
A team of physicists from the Laboratory of New Semiconductor Materials for Quantum Informatics and Telecommunications at St Petersburg University has won the first cycle of the quantum computing accelerator programme organised by OOO Innohub, a sectoral innovation development institute of Rosatom State Corporation. The award ceremony took place at the All-Russia Exhibition Centre in Moscow.
Based on the results of the selection, the experts selected 23 out of 54 applications submitted to the accelerator. Ten of them, including the St Petersburg University project, made it to the finals based on the results of the teams’ work in the pre-accelerator. Five of them were submitted by commercial organisations and another five by research teams from Russian universities.
The St Petersburg University project "Components for quantum systems: single photon sources based on quantum dots in filamentary nanocrystals and semiconductor photonic waveguides with low optical losses" is aimed at developing domestic components for quantum systems in the field of quantum computing and communications.
The accelerator programme was carried out at the request of OOO 'Joint Venture "Quant"' of Rosatom Quantum Technologies within the framework of implementation of the roadmap of the Government of the Russian Federation for support of the high-tech direction "Quantum Computing".
The aim of the accelerator programme is to select projects and develop products that show promise for the development of quantum technologies. For three months, the teams from various scientific, educational and private companies worked on their projects together with mentors, industry experts, business customers, industrial partners, and market experts.
Rodion Reznik, Head of the Laboratory of New Semiconductor Materials for Quantum Informatics and Telecommunications at St Petersburg University, explained that the scientists had developed new ways of forming semiconductor nanostructures for components of quantum devices: single-photon sources and optical waveguides. The technology developed to create new materials will reduce the cost and time of manufacturing such components, and reduce losses during photon transmission.
Single photons can provide a platform for the creation of qubits, i.e. quantum bits of information that, unlike classical systems, can have not only the values 1 or 0, but also a superposition of these values. In turn, single photons can be used to exchange information that cannot be intercepted.
The staff of the Laboratory of New Semiconductor Materials for Quantum Informatics and Telecommunications at St Petersburg University are studying new materials for microelectronics: single photon sources, efficient LEDs, solar cells, lasers, nano piezo generators, and their integration with the silicon platform. All these achievements continue the work of two Nobel laureates to improve quantum technologies for microelectronics: Alexey Ekimov, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and a graduate of St Petersburg University; and Zhores Alferov, the organiser and Rector of Saint Petersburg National Research Academic University. Rodion Reznik talked more about his work on St Petersburg University’s Heinrich Terahertz podcast.
"The market availability of domestic components for quantum systems will significantly reduce import dependency in these critical areas. We are very pleased that the accelerator programme has given us the opportunity to interact with advanced domestic high-tech companies, to confirm the demand for the components we are developing, and to expand our project to meet their needs," said Rodion Reznik.