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Studying physics can be very useful – even when it comes to machine learning. A digital ‘super-brain’ with built-in knowledge of the fundamental laws of nature can speed up the development of optical components for everything from quantum computers to eyeglass or camera lenses according to a new study from Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.
“When we fed the super-brain information about the laws of physics, it immediately got much smarter. Our calculations now take one tenth of the time previously required,” says Philippe Tassin, professor at the Department of Physics and Astronomy, Chalmers University of Technology.
The research team led by Philippe Tassin designs optical components in a field called nanophotonics. On a small scale – less than one wavelength – light can be controlled and manipulated in a completely different way than on larger scales. But there are also limitations on how light can be controlled in advanced ways in natural optical materials. To get around these limitations, the research team is investigating and designing artificial optical materials using computer simulations.
These materials can be used in camera or eyeglass lenses to make them lighter, thinner and more effective. But the group’s research may also have a bearing on the future of quantum computing. Together with researchers at the Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience at Chalmers, where Sweden’s first larger quantum computer is being built, they are investigating whether it is possible to design nanostructured materials that can control how light travels. The idea is that information sent between quantum computers, or over a longer distance, could be transmitted using optical frequencies via mechanically compliant photonics crystals – small man-made crystals that have an extremely high capacity to reflect light.
