Rapid Programmable Photonic Integrated Circuits

ended

Photonic integrated circuits enable trapping of photons, the fundamental particles of light, in a waveguide on a chip to allow their manipulation, similar to electrons in classical integrated circuits. While photonic circuits offer superior performance in speed and energy efficiency, their application in computing has so far been limited by their programmability. Electronic integrated circuits are based on transistors that until recently have become both smaller and more energy-efficient according to Moore's law. Photonic circuits on the other hand are controlled through phase modulators that typically rely on the same materials used in the electronic industry but suffer from fundamental limitations, which so far have hindered the implementation of dedicated scalable photonic computing hardware. We propose to explore an innovative and efficient phase modulation technology utilizing the novel material platform of atomically thin semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides that promises to outperform conventional technologies in all key performance metrics, including energy consumption, modulation efficiency and optical losses. One promising integrated photonics platform to host these novel devices is represented by laser-written waveguides that allow for a rapid design cycle, thereby drastically reducing timescales provided by conventional semiconductor foundries. This ERC Proof of Concept project aims at leveraging atomically thin semiconductors to implement programmable photonic integrated circuitry.