PHI Lab
Physics & Informatics Laboratories
We are here to uncover fundamental principles and novel technologies that advance our information processing beyond state-of-the-art. We explore the interdisciplinary space between quantum information science and neuroscience using optical technologies.
– Yoshihisa Yamamoto
Director of the PHI Lab
Next-generation computing
Multiple paths to solving today’s problems—and tomorrow’s.
Moore’s Law says the number of transistors on a chip doubles every two years. The problem is, as a society we are on a collision course with this rule. We can’t physically add many more transistors to a silicon chip, and our current processors are already quite efficient. To address the unsolvable problems the world faces today, as well as the ones that will doubtlessly arise tomorrow, the PHI Lab explores multiple approaches that range from quantum-inspired computing to emulating the behavior of the human brain.
One such solution is the Coherent Ising Machine (CIM), which employs a hybrid of quantum and classical principles. Rather than solving problems one at a time like current computers, the CIM uses a network of optical parametric oscillators to solve everything at once. This makes the CIM well suited to solving computations with large numbers of variables. Imagine the possibilities. What if drug discoveries took months instead of decades? What if airlines were never late? What if financial portfolios could be optimized with certainty instead of guesswork?
Furthering the possibilities of the CIM are the PHI Lab’s projects developing Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN) chips. As the limitations of silicon chips and electronics become more manifest with every passing day, the non-linear characteristics of TFLN open worlds of possibility for photonics. Where previously the CIM physically occupied tables in a laboratory, TFLN chips allow the optical structures of the entire CIM to reside on a photonic processor. The resulting breakthroughs promise to not only solve today’s hard problems, but provide benefits similar to those experienced when technology progressed from vacuum tubes to integrated circuits. Who knows, maybe one day Silicon Valley will be renamed Lithium Niobate Valley?
Introducing TFLN
Traditional silicon chips are insufficient to meet growing computational demands. Photonics, using thin film lithium niobate, emerges as a promising solution, offering enhanced energy efficiency and data transmission capabilities.
Whowe are
The PHI Lab assembles leading minds in varied fields including physics, electrical engineering, computer science, optics, photonics, machine learning, and quantum and classical computing. We then provide these talented scientists the space, time and resources to pursue their ideas with an eye towards creating the next generation of computers society desperately needs.