A Nature Communications result shows strong visible-light phase modulation on a wafer-scale platform—aimed at scaling ion/atom quantum computers.
A new Nature Communications paper reports a gigahertz-frequency acousto-optic phase modulator for visible light, fabricated in a volume CMOS foundry (200-mm wafer process). The device supports >500 mW optical power at 730 nm and achieves strong modulation at 2.31 GHz, with a notably low Vπ ≈ 1.32 V.
Coverage and institutional writeups emphasize why that matters: large trapped-ion and neutral-atom quantum computers need enormous numbers of precisely controlled laser channels, and today’s bulk optical hardware does not scale cleanly to that world.
Conclusion:
This is a “plumbing breakthrough” for quantum: less glamorous than qubit records, but potentially decisive—because scalable, low-power, manufacturable photonics is how you go from 100 qubits to “warehouse-grade” systems.
