Optical Quantum Computing

Since the shift from the passive observation to the active manipulation of quanta (photons, electrons, atoms, molecules, etc.) in the 1980s and onward, the combination of quantum physics and information technology has blazed a completely new trail in information processing and communication that is fundamentally different from the conventional approach—quantum information sciences. A relatively new but quickly emerging discipline, it has become one of the most vibrant frontiers for research in physics and information science in the past few years. Researchers have discovered that quantum control technology can revolutionize the way we encode, store, transmit and handle information, which is envisioned to overcome bottlenecks in classical physics-based information technology with regard to aspects like information transmission capacity increase, computing speed improvement and information security augmentation, providing a new perspective and growth point for the practical applications of quantum theory.