Researchers from Nagoya University have developed a method to generate room temperature, electrically tuneable LED's, twisting light that can switch direction to accelerate quantum information processing technologies.
Light particles, known as photons, can be used for storing and transporting large amounts of data data, and offering applications in quantum processing.
Information can be encoded in the direction of an electron’s spin, similar to storing in the form of 0’s and 1’s in ‘bits’ of computers. Data can also be stored when electrons occupy ‘valleys’ in energy bands, generating twisted valley-polarised light when interacting with specific light-emitting materials. This method shows potential for storing large amounts of data.
Quantum computing is widely seen as the future of computing technology, using the properties of quantum physics to store data and perform calculations in ways that could outperform traditional supercomputers.
The Nagoya University physicists grew a layer of semiconducting tungsten disulfide, covered with an ion-gel film. Electrodes were placed on each end of the device where a small voltage was applied. This method generated an electric field and produced light, observed between -193 degrees and room temperature.
Taishi Takenobu, researcher, Nagoya University, explained:"Our use of strained monolayer semiconductors is the first demonstration of a light-emitting device that can electrically generate and switch right- and left-handed circularly polarized light at room temperature.”
Pictured: An artist's impression of the new quantum computing device, which can twist the polarization of light left or right on demand at room temperature
- Nagoya University Takenobu Lab