Granted Patent B2

US 12,675,721 · App. 18/046,468 · Granted Jul 7, 2026

Inventors: Martin O. Sandberg (Ossining, NY); Abram L. Falk (Port Chester, NY); Karthik Balakrishnan (Scarsdale, NY); Jason S. Orcutt (Katonah, NY)

Assignee: INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION

G06N10/40

Abstract

Claims (42)

1 . A system comprising:

a quantum processor comprising a plurality of qubits;

an array of light emitting sources, comprising a plurality of light emitting diodes (LEDs), respective LEDs of the array being individually addressable and disposed within a cryogenic refrigeration unit that houses the quantum processor, each LED being fixed in alignment with a respective qubit on the quantum processor such that the LEDs are configured to direct light to corresponding individual qubits; and

a controller configured to receive a selection of a qubit and to selectively enable at least one of the respective LEDs to emit light to the selected qubit for qubit state initialization or control.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein each of the array of light emitting sources is a light emitting diode (LED).

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are provided by an array of mounted lenses connected to an array of optical fibers.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the lenses of the array of mounted lenses are mounted on an illumination chip that is in a same package as that of the quantum processor.

5 . The system of claim 4 , wherein the illumination chip is in a same refrigeration unit as that of the quantum processor.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are provided by an array of mounted optical fibers.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are fed by different optical sources.

8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are fed by one common optical source.

9 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the light emitting sources are arranged as a two-dimensional array of light emitting sources.

10 . A system comprising:

a quantum processor comprising an array of qubits;

an optical fiber configured to receive light pulses from an optical source located outside a cryogenic refrigeration environment;

an array of lenses disposed within the cryogenic refrigeration environment and packaged with the quantum processor, each lens being aligned with a corresponding qubit of the quantum processor; and

an optical switching matrix that distributes light pulses from the optical fiber to selected ones of the array of lenses such that individual qubits of the quantum processor are selectively illuminated via the corresponding aligned lenses.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the lenses are arranged as a two-dimensional array of lenses.

12 . The system of claim 10 , wherein:

an input of the optical switching matrix is connected to the optical fiber; and

outputs of the optical switching matrix are connected to an array of optical fibers that feed the array of lenses.

13 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the lenses of the array of lenses are mounted on an illumination chip that is in a same package as that of the quantum processor.

14 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the illumination chip is in a same refrigeration unit as that of the quantum processor.

15 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising a controller configured to receive a selection of a qubit and to enable the optical switching matrix to pass light pulses from the optical fiber to the light emitting source that is aligned with the selected qubit.

16 . A system comprising:

a quantum processor comprising a plurality of qubits;

a light emitting source;

a positioning apparatus configured to physically move the light emitting source relative to the quantum processor while the light emitting source and the quantum processor are disposed within a cryogenic refrigeration unit, the positioning apparatus being configured to reposition the light emitting source into alignment with different respective qubits of the quantum processor; and

a controller configured to receive a selection of a qubit and to control the positioning apparatus to move the light emitting source to a position that corresponds to the selected qubit for qubit state initialization or control.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the positioning apparatus is configured to move the light emitting source relative to the quantum processor in three-dimensions.

18 . A method comprising:

providing a quantum processor comprising a plurality of qubits;

disposing an array of light emitting sources within a cryogenic refrigeration environment and aligning respective light emitting sources of the array with corresponding qubits on the quantum processor such that each light emitting source is configured to illuminate a respective qubit; and

receiving a selection of a qubit by a controller; and

enabling, by the controller, the light emitting source corresponding to the selected qubit to emit light directed to the selected qubit to induce a quantum state transition.

19 . The method of claim 18 , wherein each of the array of light emitting sources is a light emitting diode (LED).

20 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are provided by an array of mounted lenses connected to an array of optical fibers.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the lenses of the array of mounted lenses are mounted on an illumination chip that is in a same package as that of the quantum processor.

22 . The method of claim 21 , wherein the illumination chip is in a same refrigeration unit as that of the quantum processor.

23 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are provided by an array of mounted optical fibers.

24 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are fed by different optical sources.

25 . The method of claim 18 , wherein the array of light emitting sources are fed by one common optical source.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (46)