A team of engineering geniuses from the University of Bristol, England has developed the world’s first re-programmable, multi-purpose quantum photonic computer chip that relies on quantum entanglement to perform calculations.

With multiple waveguide channels (made from standard silicon dioxide), and eight electrodes (see image above), the silicon chip is capable of repeatedly entangling photons. Depending on how the electrodes are programmed, different quantum states can be produced. The end result is two qubits that can be used to perform quantum computing — and unlike D-Wave’s 128-qubit processor (well, depending on who you ask) this is real quantum computing.

Most importantly, though, unlike existing quantum photonic setups which require apparatus the size of a “large dining table,” this new chip is tiny: just 70mm (2.7 inches) by 3mm (pictured below) — not exactly a 22nm component size, then, but small enough to squeeze inside a computer; and really, that’s the whole point. This chip, fundamentally, is like a very basic electronic chip, but for light. This chip, for the first time, brings the possibility of quantum computing to home and mobile computers.

But what can you actually do with quantum entanglement-based computing? That’s the tricky bit; it would be like asking the inventor of the transistor (or telephone) how their creations might impact the world. We know that entanglement can be used for very effective encryption, but beyond that it’s mostly guesswork. There’s general agreement that qubits should allow for faster computation of very complex numbers — think biological processes and weather systems — and early work by Google suggests that pattern recognition might also be a strength of qubits.

With the Bristolian quantum chip now in the wild, though, the capabilities and applications of quantum computing will begin to emerge. Experiments that used to take months to set up and run now take seconds.

Read more at University of Bristol, or the research paper