Photonic Integrated Microcombs as Multi-wavelength Sources for Edge Data Centers

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Over the past ten years the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements (LPQM) has developed and pioneered microcombs – photonic integrated optical frequency combs (OFC), providing access to equidistant optical carriers. Due to their broad bandwidth, high repetition rates, compactness and wafer-scale fabrication, such microcombs represent a novel disruptive technology with a proven track record. While their advantages were shown in ultrafast ranging (LIDAR), high-speed coherent telecommunications, as well as chip-scale atomic clocks and frequency synthesizers, the technology is not yet commercially available and only present in a few research laboratories worldwide. Recent LPQM advances have led to the development of unique proprietary Si3N4 microfabrication processes for ultra-low-power microcombs, and allowed in-house photonic packaging. Taken together the laboratory is now able to implement full-cycle production of a packaged microcomb ready for the integration into a commercial product. We aim to bring the technology to the market by building and promoting a rack-mountable microcomb unit with 100 GHz channel spacing matching the ITU frequency grid over C- and L- telecom bands. The key market segments of the proposed microcomb unit are enterprise and edge data centers, facing growing data traffic and requiring WDM sources for high-speed interconnects. The product will be tested in collaboration with Microsoft UK in an actual data center application as a WDM source for optical circuit switching. We also plan to showcase the technology to Huawei and Nokia Bell Labs who expressed interest in testing. Beyond field-testing with industry partners, the system will be shown at international industry trade fairs to address key stakeholders. The project aims to incorporate a dedicated startup to exploit the technologies. The IP position that EPFL has developed in microcombs and the recent spin-off LIGENTEC that offer SiN foundry service, make this endeavor realistic.