There seems to have been a lot going on in the photonics world of late. A quick scan of the news items on newelectronics.co.uk shows we’ve recently reported on an optical microprocessor, the use of photonics for novel sensors and NASA’s plans to use lasers for satellite communications, amongst other stories. We’ve also noted the establishment of the Compound Semiconductor Catapult, the investment by InnovateUK of £500,000 in a photonics cluster in North Wales and the Future Photonics Hub. Now, UCL has just made what appears to be a couple of big steps forward. One is setting a optical data transmission record of 1.125Tbit/s. The other is development of an optical receiver with up to 80% fewer components than conventional devices. The receiver, which is said to be suited to low cost mass production, will support data rates of 10Gbit/s and could cut the cost of fibre to the home ‘dramatically’.
While researchers continue to drive CMOS technology forward in accordance with Moore’s Law, progress is slowing. Photonics, by contrast, is poised to take over as the ‘go to’ technology for handling the huge data volumes of the future.
