This is a preview edition of Quantum Campus, which shares the latest in quantum science and technology. Read by more than 1,900 researchers, we publish on Fridays and are always looking for news from across the country. See something interesting? Be sure to share it.

Caltech scientists developed a way to guide light on silicon wafers with low signal loss. The method’s performance approaches that of optical fiber at visible wavelengths, paving the way for a new generation of ultra-coherent and efficient photonic integrated circuits that could be used in networking, optical clocks, and quantum computing.

"We have developed a method to print optical circuits, made from the same material as optical fiber, directly onto the same 8- and 12-inch wafers used for computer chips. This shift toward fiber-like performance, especially in the visible bands, will enable new technologies that benefit from negligibly low circuit energy loss," said Caltech’s Kerry Vahala.

This work was published in Nature.

NIST’s changes to lab-access policies for foreign nationals are negatively impacting the local quantum-related industry, according to The Colorado Sun. The CEO of interconnect company Icarus Quantum, for example, described staff being locked out of fabrication facilities that NIST makes available to the startup. He’s now scouting alternative space in California, Boston, and Chicago.

“We have multiple collaborations with NIST — some of them have had brilliant people working on projects that could be relevant to our commercial growth, but they are in limbo because the work was being done by foreign nationals,” Scott Davis, CEO of the photonics company Vescent, said in The Sun.

The changes and impending plans are the result of federal policy that requires institutions to establish safeguards against foreign influence. A NIST spokesperson told the outlet that they have not been finalized.

Read the full article.

A team at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign introduced a new method for generating the highly entangled states of many photons known as photonic graph states. By adding a photon to a “virtual graph state” only after its confirmed detection and using a proposed set of protocols, the team said that it should be possible to perform secure two-party computations using only existing equipment. The approach could also be used in measurement-based quantum computing and quantum sensing.

This work was published in npj Quantum Information.

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Quantum Campus is edited by Bill Bell, a science writer and marketing consultant who has covered physics and high-performance computing for more than 25 years. Disclosure statement.