Professor Son Seokgyun of Mokpo National University, Participating Research Published in International Journal of Physics Field

Professor Seokgyun Son, Department of Physics, Mokpo National University (Photo by Mokpo National University)

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Seo Young-seo] Mokpo National University (President Park Min-seo) announced on the 18th that the single-photon research results led by the Department of Physics research team at the University of Cambridge, UK (Professor C. J. Ford, Dr. T. K. Hsiao, Dr. Jung Yoo-sun) with Professor Son Seok-gyun of Mokpo National University’s Department of Physics as a co-author were published on the 14th in the prestigious physics journal Nature Communications (11, Article No: 917, 2020).

Furthermore, this technology is expected to attract significant interest in the research and development of new fields in quantum communication and quantum computing, and was featured on the main page of the international physics science news outlet Physics Org under the title “Producing single photons from a stream of single electrons.”

Single photons, the fundamental particles of light, have been regarded as an important area in quantum technology because they can transmit quantum bit (qubit) information over hundreds of kilometers. However, current technologies mainly used in the semiconductor field have difficulty predicting the energy (or wavelength) of single photons generated by devices, posing significant challenges for integration into quantum networks.

The research team succeeded in simultaneously implementing a two-dimensional electron gas and a two-dimensional hole gas on a gallium arsenide surface using a field effect transistor, and developed a new technology that uses surface acoustic waves to transfer electrons in the electron gas to the hole gas at GHz frequencies (one hundred millionth of a second) to realize single photons.

The significance of this research lies in developing a technology that generates single photons by moving only one electron at a time using surface acoustic waves to recombine with holes, without relying on quantum dots or diamond defects, which have been primarily used in conventional single-photon devices.

Professor Son Seok-gyun, who participated in this research, emphasized that “the device used in this study can detect single photons about ten times faster and more accurately than existing devices,” and added, “I learned a lot by participating in the development of a specially designed optical microscope for single-photon detection.”

Professor C. J. Ford, who supervised the research, expressed gratitude to all researchers who enabled the experimental realization of the single-photon device theory using surface acoustic waves by C. L. Foden, and explained, “This represents a significant leap toward quantum computing networks through quantum computers that use single photons as quantum bits (qubits).”