A group of American researchers led by engineers from the University of Pennsylvania presented
Engineers have developed a hyperspacespin-orbit microlaser. The device builds on previous work by scientists that has created vortex microlasers that fine-tune the orbital angular momentum of photons.
The new device can also manipulatephoton rotation. The ability to manipulate both the orbital momentum and the rotation of an elementary particle at the same time makes it possible to generate qudits, the scientists explain.
Artistic illustration of a microlaser installation for generating kudits. Image: Penn Engineering
In traditional devices as a unitinformation uses a bit, in quantum - a qubit. While the first one takes the value 1 or 0, the second one can also work in a superposition of these two values.
Superposition leads to the fact that the quantummomentum cannot be copied. Unlike algorithmic encryption, which blocks hackers with complex mathematics, quantum cryptography is a physical system that keeps information secure, the developers explain.
However, qubits also have their drawbacks.Because they have only two levels of superposition, qubits have limited storage space and low resistance to interference. Four-level qudits in the new device increase the maximum speed of the secret key for information exchange from 1 bit per pulse to 2 bits per pulse.
Engineers note that previously similar systemscould only be created in a laboratory with a lot of sophisticated equipment. In the presented device, for the first time, they managed to control several parameters of a particle at once using a tiny chip.
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