Tag

Photonics

All articles tagged with #photonics

Kyoto and Hiroshima Researchers Achieve First Experimental W-State Quantum Measurement
science10 days ago

Kyoto and Hiroshima Researchers Achieve First Experimental W-State Quantum Measurement

Researchers at Kyoto University and Hiroshima University have experimentally demonstrated a new method to identify W-state quantum entanglement, a capability that had remained unproven for over 25 years. By utilizing cyclic shift symmetry and photonic quantum circuits, the team successfully distinguished three-photon W states with high fidelity. This breakthrough offers a more efficient alternative to traditional quantum tomography, potentially accelerating the development of quantum teleportation, communication protocols, and measurement-based computing. The team plans to scale this technique to larger photon numbers and integrate it into compact on-chip devices.

Nano metasurface boosts light frequency conversion by 1,000x
innovation1 month ago

Nano metasurface boosts light frequency conversion by 1,000x

Researchers combined gallium arsenide/aluminum gallium arsenide multi-quantum-well layers with a nanoscale metasurface to amplify light’s nonlinear frequency conversion by up to 1,000 times, enabling smaller, scalable photonic devices for telecom and quantum technologies. The approach engineers both the material and the optical structure, yielding strong light–matter interactions at near-infrared wavelengths and compatibility with existing semiconductor manufacturing, with potential applications including quantum communication and entangled-photon sources.

Quantum-well metasurface boosts free-space second-harmonic generation to giant levels
science1 month ago

Quantum-well metasurface boosts free-space second-harmonic generation to giant levels

Researchers combine a GaAs/AlGaAs multi-quantum-well stack with a high-Q TiO2 metasurface to access and enhance second-order nonlinearities from near-infrared to visible. Engineered interband transitions yield an intrinsic χ(2) ≈ 1.6 nm/V at 1.57 μm, while coupling to a guided-mode resonance in the metasurface elevates the effective χ(2) to ~14 nm/V (≈17 nm/V after correcting for SH absorption), enabling free-space-accessible SHG with normal incidence. The device uses a 16-period MQW film (~595 nm) and a metasurface that provides polarization conversion and strong field overlap; the strongest SHG occurs at small incidence angles with a high-Q resonance (Q ~1125). This co-design demonstrates a scalable route to compact, efficient nonlinear photonic devices and could extend to other nonlinear processes.

Caltech engineers fiber-like light paths on silicon chips for visible wavelengths
technology1 month ago

Caltech engineers fiber-like light paths on silicon chips for visible wavelengths

Caltech researchers have developed germano-silicate waveguides printed on silicon wafers that achieve fiber-like optical losses, especially at visible wavelengths, enabling highly coherent and energy-efficient photonic integrated circuits with potential applications in optical clocks, sensors, quantum devices, and data-center communications.

MIT advances photonic links to petabit-speed data transfer
innovation3 months ago

MIT advances photonic links to petabit-speed data transfer

MIT's FUTUR-IC program unveils advances in electronically-photonic integration to push data transmission toward and beyond one petabit per second with lower energy use, including evanescent and GRIN optical couplers plus a third previously developed one—optical 'solder bumps' linking photonic devices. These approaches can be manufactured with existing semiconductor equipment, and Earthster models environmental impact while the initiative trains a workforce for semiconductor efficiency. The aim is to separate computation (electronics) from communication (photonic) to reduce data-center energy as AI and cloud services scale.

AI's Hidden Winners: OSATs, Photonics, and Cooling Gear Up the Next Compute Boom
markets3 months ago

AI's Hidden Winners: OSATs, Photonics, and Cooling Gear Up the Next Compute Boom

AI investment is shifting from chipmakers to the bottlenecks that scale AI systems. The next winners will be firms solving advanced packaging (OSATs like ASX and AMKR), data movement via optical interconnects (Fabrinet FN, Coherent COHR, Lumentum LITE), and liquid cooling (Vertiv VRT, Ecolab ECL) as hyperscalers spend about $2 trillion on infrastructure and GenAI revenue tops $175 billion, signaling a new compute supercycle beyond AMD, MU, and NVDA.

Huang’s optics verdict sparks a rally in AI optical stocks
technology4 months ago

Huang’s optics verdict sparks a rally in AI optical stocks

NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang used Marvell’s Computex keynote to champion a copper-to-optics strategy for AI data centers—use copper where possible, then scale with optics to meet GPU-to-GPU traffic needs. The comments helped lift optical-interconnect names (Coherent, Lumentum, Corning, Marvell, Ciena) as investors expect a rapid shift to photonics in AI infrastructure, backed by Nvidia’s multi‑billion‑dollar photonics investments and bullish Bank of America price targets for related stocks.

Photons Could Speed AI Data Moves as Nvidia Bets Big
technology4 months ago

Photons Could Speed AI Data Moves as Nvidia Bets Big

AI workloads are limited by how quickly data moves between chips and servers; photonics—using light rather than copper wires—could dramatically speed interconnects and reduce energy use, a technology Nvidia is betting on with billions in investments (Lumentum, Coherent, Marvell, Corning, Ayar Labs) to scale silicon photonics and GPU-to-GPU links, though mass deployment faces manufacturing ramp and redesign challenges to replace copper in existing product roadmaps.

Tiny On-Chip Valleytronics Circuit Turns Light Into Information
technology4 months ago

Tiny On-Chip Valleytronics Circuit Turns Light Into Information

Monash University researchers have built a nanoscale, on-chip valleytronics circuit that can generate, direct, and read light-based signals in a single device, using ultra-thin materials and metasurfaces to manipulate photons via the valley degree of freedom; operating at room temperature, the chip demonstrated processing of two simultaneous images, highlighting potential for faster, energy-efficient photonic and quantum computing and communication.

Chip-Scale Nanolaser Promises Faster, Greener Computing
technology6 months ago

Chip-Scale Nanolaser Promises Faster, Greener Computing

DTU researchers have built a nanolaser inside a semiconductor membrane that concentrates light and electrons in a tiny nanocavity, enabling on-chip data transfer with photons instead of electricity. The technology could dramatically boost speeds and halve energy use once thousands of such sources are integrated on future chips; it currently operates at room temperature using light, with electrical powering and large-scale integration as next challenges. If resolved in 5–10 years, it could impact consumer devices, data centers, and high-precision sensors.

Researchers Reveal Rich 48-Dimensional Topology Inside Entangled Photons
physics6 months ago

Researchers Reveal Rich 48-Dimensional Topology Inside Entangled Photons

Researchers at the University of the Witwatersrand and collaborators demonstrated that entangled photons carry a hidden, high-dimensional topology—up to 48 dimensions—with over 17,000 distinct signatures. This topology arises from a single property of light, its orbital angular momentum, enabling a new high-dimensional encoding scheme for quantum information. Because OAM spans many values, the resulting topology can be very rich, and the effect can be observed using standard SPDC lab setups, potentially improving the robustness of future quantum technologies.

Nvidia bets on light-speed AI data centers with a $4B photonics push
tech7 months ago

Nvidia bets on light-speed AI data centers with a $4B photonics push

Nvidia is plowing $4 billion into photonics suppliers Lumentum and Coherent to connect the GPUs inside AI data centers with optical tech like lasers and transceivers, building on its Mellanox effort to boost NVLink. The multiyear deals include multibillion‑dollar purchase commitments and capacity rights for advanced laser and optical networking components, aiming to improve energy efficiency, bandwidth, and latency as AI workloads grow. The move underscores photonics as a key lever for future AI infrastructure amid broader interest from DARPA and rivals like AMD.

Photons Hit Quantized Hall Drift, Echoing Quantum Hall Effect
science7 months ago

Photons Hit Quantized Hall Drift, Echoing Quantum Hall Effect

Researchers demonstrated a quantized transverse drift of light that mirrors the electronic quantum Hall effect, using a frequency-encoded photonic Chern insulator. The photon steps depend only on fundamental constants, potentially establishing an optical standard for ultra-precise measurements and strengthening quantum photonic technologies; the result, published in Physical Review X, could impact metrology and sensor development.

Two-Timescale Photonic Chips Forge New Colors On Demand
technology7 months ago

Two-Timescale Photonic Chips Forge New Colors On Demand

Researchers at JQI designed a chip consisting of an array of resonators that exploit two distinct light-circulation timescales to passively satisfy frequency-phase matching, enabling second-, third-, and fourth-harmonic generation from a 190 THz input without active tuning. The on-chip generation of new colors (red, green, blue) eliminates the need for additional lasers or heaters and could impact metrology and nonlinear optical computing by providing compact, scalable light sources.

Room-Temperature Light Ising Machine Tackles Tough Optimization Problems
physics-and-chemistry8 months ago

Room-Temperature Light Ising Machine Tackles Tough Optimization Problems

A Queen’s University team demonstrated a light-based Ising machine built from standard telecom components that runs at room temperature and processes billions of operations per second to solve optimization tasks (like routing or protein folding) by guiding light pulses toward low-energy configurations; it’s practical for specific problems but not a general-purpose computer, with pilots planned with industry partners.