china shanghai ，The world’s first gallium nitride quantum light source chip was successfully developed

Recently, Shanghai Jiading Research Institute has made another breakthrough: the Information and Quantum Laboratory of the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Tsinghua University, and the Shanghai Institute of Microsystems and Information Technology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have successfully developed the world’s first gallium nitride quantum light source chip. This breakthrough progress not only laid a solid foundation for China’s research in the field of quantum communications, but also injected new vitality into the development of global quantum technology.

Compared with existing communication methods, quantum communication has significant advantages in security, accuracy and transmission speed. As quantum technology continues to improve, it will be widely used in fields that require high confidentiality such as military, finance, and scientific research. It is also expected to further promote the development of modern information technologies such as artificial intelligence.

The relationship between quantum chip technology and traditional chip technology is like the innovation and iteration between new energy and traditional energy. Quantum light source chip, the core component of quantum communication, provides key information interaction functions for network users like a “quantum light bulb”.

In the past, quantum light source chips were mainly made of materials such as silicon nitride. The newly developed gallium nitride quantum light source chip has achieved important breakthroughs in key performance indicators — its output wavelength range has been significantly expanded from 25.6 nanometers to 100 nanometers, and has the potential to develop towards monolithic integration. This innovation means that future “quantum light bulbs” will be able to illuminate more areas, making large-capacity, long-distance, and high-quality quantum Internet possible.

In this project, the research team successfully overcame technical problems such as gallium nitride crystal film growth and waveguide sidewall and surface scattering losses by optimizing electron beam exposure and dry etching processes, and successfully applied gallium nitride materials to quantum applications for the first time. Light source chips are under development. Relevant results were published in Physical Review Letters, a top journal in physics.