NIST Develops Advanced Photonics-Electronics Integration for High-Speed Data Systems
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has made significant progress in developing advanced packaging techniques to integrate photonics and electronics in semiconductor chips. Their research focuses on generating frequency-comb lasers with integrated photonics for high-speed data communication, advanced computing architectures, and signal generation across various frequency bands.
Key technical points:
– Combining photonics and electronics allows leveraging the scalability of digital computing with the high bandwidth and coherence of optical signals
– NIST’s research on multi-wavelength microresonator frequency combs processed on semiconductor wafers demonstrates high coherence, low power consumption, and high pump-to-comb conversion efficiency
– Achieved a 200 GHz soliton microcomb spanning from L-band to S-band with minimum 4.6 GHz mismatch from the ITU-T grid
– DARPA’s PIPES program supports NIST’s development of ultrahigh speed optical links using microcombs and semiconductor-foundry-based silicon photonics and electronics systems
– Optical links using NIST’s microcombs achieve 1 Tb per second performance at ultralow power consumption through monolithic integration of silicon photonics and electronics circuits
The potential impact of this research is significant, as it supports wide-ranging applications including next-generation computing, high-speed microwave and millimeter-wave signaling, and sensing of various physical observables.
Source: https://www.nist.gov/programs-projects/semiconductor-integration-electronics-and-photonics
Keywords: microcombs, integrated photonics, silicon photonics
