Quantum tech for the data centre: PsiQuantum unveils its first optical switch
The US company is applying the silicon photonics it developed for quantum computers to data links. The prototype reroutes light paths in under three milliseconds.
Symbolic image · Photo: PiDatacenters / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
US quantum computing developer PsiQuantum is bringing part of its technology to market before the quantum computer itself. On Wednesday the company unveiled an optical circuit switch for data centres handling large artificial intelligence workloads. Such switches redirect data links directly as light, without converting them into electrical signals. It is built on the low-loss silicon photonics platform PsiQuantum has spent nearly a decade developing for fault-tolerant quantum computers.
The first prototype disclosed has eight inputs and eight outputs. In the company's own lab tests it achieved a typical insertion loss of 1.2 decibels, crosstalk of 40 decibels and a reconfiguration time of under three milliseconds – without optical amplification and beyond its initial targets, PsiQuantum says. Selected prospective customers are receiving samples, and commercial products are to be announced in the coming months. The figures have not yet been independently verified.
"We now have an opportunity to put our technology to work today," said chief executive Victor Peng, while the company keeps pursuing fault-tolerant quantum computing. For future products PsiQuantum is developing integration of barium titanate on 300-millimetre wafers; its quantum systems use a 64-by-64 switch. In September the company signed an agreement with the US Department of Commerce to accelerate research and domestic manufacturing of such components.