Imperfect chips pave the way for new quantum technology

Disorder is OK, is the surprising message from a research group at DTU Fotonik, thus overturning the common notion that optical chips must be perfect.

The research group has demonstrated that when the light is captured on the imperfect optical chip, the interaction of light with matter (an atom) is increased approximately 15 times. The discovery allows the production of a brand new type of optical chips where disorder is utilised as a valuable resource instead of being considered a limitation. It may potentially be used to develop efficient miniature lasers, solar cells and sensors and to pave the way for a completely new quantum information technology, including quantum computers.

This finding is a major basic scientific breakthrough, which was published in the international journal Science on 12 March 2010.

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