Sensores

Courtesy of Chat GPT4, M. Vera Gonçalves, SOITEC.
During the last decade, the exponential growth of data center traffic has been largely fueled by general-purpose cloud- and internet-based applications, such as video streaming, social networks, internet search engines, and e-commerce platforms. More recently, the onset of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) that leverage large language models (LLMs) for both AI training and inference has added significant upside growth perspectives to the traditional data center market. The transformational effect of this market trend can be easily understood when looking at the evolution of LLMs during the last few years. So far, these models exhibit a super-exponential growth...

The use of traditional semiconductor fabrication techniques to create optical components on silicon wafers has opened the door to faster and more efficient solutions for high-speed data communication applications for data centers, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, and other applications. Courtesy of Ayar Labs.
Recent advancements in silicon photonics are upending the optical market in the data center, with significant ramifications for how future AI, cloud, and high-performance computing systems will be designed, architected, and deployed. The core problem involves how to best connect compute chips over longer distances while maintaining bandwidth, energy, and density metrics that are acceptable for a given...

Rapid, on-demand access to information is a necessary facet of daily life in the present “age of communications.” The reliable communication links that society necessitates support person-to-person and device-to-device communications at any time and, increasingly, in any place.

Such assurances of connectivity owe to the massive technological strides of the past half century. Now, as with many technology hallmarks of the previous 50 years — spanning hardline telephony to the current ubiquitous smart devices — the pending evolution in the field of communications is poised to require a substantially broadened reach. Networks must extend beyond the existing and forthcoming physical infrastructure of wireline fiber...

To glean insight from the subtle distinctions that differentiate one technology from another is a worthy proposition. The newness of a technology and the need to distinguish between the concepts of its “forecast” and its “roadmap” elaborate such a formidable undertaking.

Though it had not quite yet adopted its status as a bona fide application, silicon photonics arrived in Photonics Spectra in 2005. The article that marked its debut, “The Quest to Siliconize Photonics,” is indicative of the attention that silicon photonics would subsequently garner and receive from this industry for two decades. More recently, owing to a convergence of once parallel advancements in photonics R&D and...

Photoacoustic (PA) technologies offer a noninvasive approach to probing biological tissues, but have seen limited use in clinical applications, partially due to bulky, expensive laser sources. A compact PA sensing instrument for biomedical tissue diagnosis, powered by laser diodes, could provide clinicians with a practical, effective tool for evaluating breast disease.

By providing a cost-effective path to tissue diagnosis, the compact PA sensing instrument could bridge the gap between PA research and its practical application. The instrument is the work of a research team from the Indian Institute of Technology Indore.

The researchers integrated multiple laser diodes for PA excitation within a compact casing and developed a...

Researchers at the Max Born Institute in Berlin have demonstrated attosecond-pump attosecond-probe spectroscopy (APAPS) at a repetition rate of 1 kHz. The advance opens new avenues for the investigation of extremely fast electron dynamics in the attosecond regime.

Current pump-probe setups for the investigation of attosecond phenomena typically pair a weak extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) pulse generated through high harmonic generation with intense NIR pulses in the femtosecond range, with each source contributing limitations.
In the experimental setup, NIR pulses were focused behind a pulsed gas jet, where attosecond pulses are generated. At some distance from the gas jet, spherical half-mirrors were used to spectrally select and focus...

Researchers at the National University of Singapore (NUS) have unveiled a novel concept termed supercritical coupling that enables a several-fold increase in photon upconversion efficiency. This discovery not only challenges existing paradigms, but also opens a new direction in the control of light emission, the team said.

Photon upconversion, the process of converting low-energy photons into higher-energy ones, is a crucial technique with broad applications, ranging from super-resolution imaging to advanced photonic devices. Despite considerable progress, the quest for efficient photon upconversion has faced challenges due to inherent limitations in the irradiance of lanthanide-doped nanoparticles and the critical coupling...

Although structured illumination microscopy (SIM) demonstrates ultrahigh temporal and spatial resolution, the speed and intricacy of polarization modulation affect the speed and quality of its imaging resolution in 3D.

A 3DSIM technique, developed by a team led by professor Peng Xi at Peking University, leverages digital display technology to achieve a rapid, reliable, multidimensional SIM imaging tool for investigating diverse biological phenomena. The new microscopy technique blends 3D superresolution and fast temporal resolution with polarization imaging. To do so, it combines the polarization-maintaining and modulation capabilities of a digital micromirror device (DMD) with an electro-optic modulator (EOM).

A DMD uses the...

U.K. Research and Innovation (UKRI) is providing £62 million ($78 million) to support the development of technologies crucial to future telecoms networks such as 6G. Funding will support projects and infrastructure which aim to advance telecom technology.

The Technology Missions Fund (TMF) Future Telecoms Mission will provide sixteen projects with a share of £22 million to support development and commercialization of technology solutions. Projects will be led by academia and industry alike and will work on technologies such as optical network switches, LiFi, mid-infrared free space telecommunications, and optical transceivers.

The remaining £40 million ($50 million) will support three existing future Telecoms...

BAE Systems has been selected by the Space Systems Command (SSC) Space Enterprise Consortium to provide a prototype ground system for the U.S. Space Force’s SSC Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution Command and Control (FORGE C2) project. FORGE C2 will integrate functionality such as telemetry, tracking, command, flight dynamics, mission management, and ground resource management into a consolidated framework that will facilitate the integration of next-generation assets as they come online. BAE Systems was one of four companies chosen to take part in phase one of the project, which was focused on integration and demonstration of prototype capabilities.

TORONTO — Xanadu, a photonic quantum computing company, has...

ams OSRAM is reassessing its microLED strategy following the unexpected cancellation of a cornerstone project for its microLED program, the company said in a press release. Discussions with the related customer are ongoing.

Following the cancellation of the project, the company will revisit the future use of its assets related to its microLED strategy, particularly its 8-inch LED facility in Kulim, Malaysia. The company expects to take a hit to its balance sheet in the ballpark of €600 to €900 million (~$650 to $975 million) in the first quarter of 2024.
ams OSRAM's "Re-Establish-the-Base" business restructuring plan named microLEDs as a core area of focus. The company is now reassessing assets related to this field....

On February 1, the biggest North American photonics convention concluded. It was busier than ever, with over 24,000 registered attendees.

Guests once again enjoyed a great reunion for the photonics family, and, beyond a meet and greet event for the community, Photonics West again featured an overwhelming number of events: conferences with thousands of presentations, short courses, four distinct exhibitions (another record), and many, many parties.

Though it is impossible to cover such a wealth of information, a few points topped my personal Photonics West 2024 agenda.

Secondary Sources

The topic of secondary sources has been around for some time. Now, the engagement of one of the biggest players in the laser...

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) supplier Scintil Photonics has integrated III-V distributed feedback (DFB) lasers and amplifiers with standard silicon photonics technology in production at Tower Semiconductor. The integration technology grants opportunities to accommodate integration of additional materials and functions, including lithium niobate and quantum dots, said Sylvie Menezo, president and CEO of Scintil Photonics.

Scintil unveiled its fully chip-integrated 100-GHz DFB comb laser source offering in March 2023. The company said that its continued partnership with Tower positions it for high volume production to meet market demand.

Scintil’s integrated circuits (ICs) are made using a combination involving...

Researchers have developed a biosensor using metasurfaces to detect terahertz radiation, a development which enables early detection of skin sensor. The work is the result of a collaboration between Queen Mary University of London and the University of Glasgow.

According to postdoctoral researcher at Queen Mary University, Shohreh Nourinovin, traditional methods of detecting skin cancers are often expensive, time-consuming, and involve CT and PET scans and invasive higher frequency technology. “Our biosensor offers a non-invasive and highly efficient solution, leveraging the unique properties of THz waves — a type of radiation with lower energy than X-rays, thus safe for humans — to detect subtle changes in cell...

Aktiia, a developer of optical health monitoring technology, has completed a CHF 27 million ($30 million) funding round. The company's wrist-worn, 24/7 optical blood pressure monitoring device, which is currently marketed in seven European markets and approved as a medical device in 44 countries, uses photoplethysmography to determine blood volume changes in small blood vessels. The wristbands are calibrated monthly using a conventional blood pressure monitor.

Photoplethysmography is a non-invasive optical measurement technique that uses a light source and a photodetector at the surface of the skin to measure volumetric variations of blood circulation. Since Aktiia's device debuted in the U.K. in 2021, the company has acquired more...

Quantum Science, an infrared quantum dot technology company, has appointed Billy McLaughlin as its first COO. He will be responsible for leading the company’s commercial operations as the business continues development of its proprietary INFIQ quantum dot technology. McLaughlin has more than 30 years’ experience in the semiconductor industry having held roles including managing director at Sivers Photonics as well as senior leadership and board-level positions at SmartKem, Motorola, Global Foundries, and Teledyne e2v.
Billy McLaughlin. Courtesy of Quantum Science.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Optica has named Kenichi Iga as the 2024 recipient of the Frederic Ives Medal/Jarus W. Quinn Prize for his contributions and leadership...

A team at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), in collaboration with Kansas State University, has developed slab waveguides based on the two-dimensional material hexagonal boron nitride. NRL researchers also developed 3D electromagnetic models of the waveguides. The modeling results provide a toolkit for designing future 2D devices that use slab waveguides. The technology has applications in optoelectronics and enables the study of dark excitons.

2D materials are a class of materials which can be reduced to the monolayer limit by mechanically peeling the layers apart. The weak interlayer attractions, or van der Waals attraction, allows the layers to be separated via the so-called “Scotch tape” method. The most famous...

Devices like solar cells, transistors, detectors, sensors, and LEDs are made with semiconductor materials that have charge carriers that are released when the carriers are hit with light.

Determining the transport properties of a semiconductor’s charge carriers can help researchers predict how effective the material will be for an optoelectronics application. Until now, the parameters of the transport properties in minority and majority charge carriers in semiconductors have been determined by using different measurement methods for each type of charge.

To enable efficient, complete characterization of semiconductors, scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum Berlin (HZB) developed a method that records 14 different parameters of...

Metalenz will use Samsung Electronics’ ISOCELL Vizion 931 technology as the image sensor component for its "Polar ID" imaging system. Metalenz offers the solution for facial biometrics. The partnership with Samsung provides manufacturing scale to drive rapid adoption of the technology within the smartphone industry, Metalenz said, adding that Polar ID is under early evaluation with several leading smartphone OEMs.

The imaging system is to specifically combine Metalenz’s polarization-sensitive meta-optic with a derivative of the ISOCELL Vizion 931 image sensor to capture polarized images in the near-IR with advanced global shutter technology. The ISOCELL Vizion 931 achieves 60% quantum efficiency at 850 nm infrared light...

Researchers at CERN’s Antimatter Factory working on the Antihydrogen Experiment: Gravity, Interferometry, Spectroscopy (AEgIS) have cooled positronium with laser light for the first time. According to the researchers, the achievement could mark the first step towards a matter-antimatter system that emits laser-like gamma-ray light.

AEgIS is one of several experiments at CERN’s Antimatter Factory producing and studying antihydrogen atoms with the goal of testing with high precision whether antimatter and matter fall to Earth in the same way.

The experiment, the researchers said, paves the way for a whole new set of antimatter studies, including the prospect to produce a gamma-ray laser that would allow researchers to...