photonics

Dutch quantum computing company QphoX has raised an €8 million ($8.7 million) funding round. The investment is reportedly the largest made in a quantum company in the Netherlands to date. QPhox is developing the core hardware required to allow quantum computers to communicate over an optical network. This will enable the scalability of large quantum computing systems within a data center, and ultimately form the backbone of the future quantum internet.

Since raising €2 million ($2.2 million) in 2021, QphoX has made significant advances in its technology, including recent developments that bring mature quantum computers within reach. QphoX's core technology centers on the ability to build devices that enable quantum...

The Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) has published an implementation agreement (IA) for Common Electrical I/O (CEI) CEI-112G-XSR+-PAM4 Extended Extra Short Reach. According to Alphawave Semi's Matt Brown, who served as editor of the CEI-112G-XSR+-PAM4 IA, the agreement addresses a gap in OIF CEI specifications to cover new applications identified by OIF’s membership.

The agreement specifies a 112 Gb/s PAM4 electrical interface for die-to-die (D2D) and die-to-optical-engine (D2OE) interconnect with bump-to-bump insertion loss of up to 13 dB at the Nyquist frequency and baud rate in the range 36 to 58 Gsym/s. The intended applications encompass multiple-chip modules, co-packaged optics, and near-package optics assemblies. It...

Honeywell has closed a $300 million equity fundraising for integrated quantum computing company Quantinuum. The round closed at a pre-money valuation of $5 billion. Honeywell said that the financing is anchored by Quantinuum's strategic partner, JPMorgan Chase, with additional participation from Mitsui & Co., Amgen, and Honeywell itself, which remains the company's majority shareholder.

Quantinuum's technologies are used today by companies including Airbus, BMW Group, Honeywell, HSBC, JPMorgan Chase, Mitsui, and Thales. In collaboration, these organizations are exploring how to engineer and scale quantum capabilities to help solve problems — from designing and manufacturing hydrogen cell batteries for transportation to...

Technologies like integrated signal distributing, processing, and sensing networks require basic optical elements such as waveguides, splitters, gratings, and optical switches to be miniaturized. This poses challenges, especially for curved elements such as bends and ring resonators, which require an especially high resolution and lower sidewall roughness.

There are a number of methods to achieve subwavelength high-resolution manufacturing, though they tend to be costly, complex, and time-consuming. Nanoimprint lithography is promising as an approach to efficient high-resolution manufacturing, but it requires high-quality master stamps often produced with electron beam lithography.
An illustration of the UV-LED-based microscope...

With massive numbers of data points requiring real-time processing every day, limitations of cloud computing, including leaks, communications delays, slow speeds, and higher power consumption need to be addressed. Edge computing, which distributes computations to reduce load and speed processing, presents an alternative.

However, for effective edge computing, efficient and computationally cost-effective technology is needed. One promising option is reservoir computing, a computational method designed for processing signals that are recorded over time. It can transform these signals into complex patterns using reservoirs that respond nonlinearly to them.
The device consists of an Sn-doped In2O3 and Nb-doped SrTiO3 (ITO/Nb:STO; GND:...

Lynred, a provider of infrared detectors, has appointed Hervé Bouaziz as executive president and Xavier Caillouet as CEO. Bouaziz has 30 years’ aerospace, defense, and security experience and previously served as CEO for Europrop International and held several executive positions at Safran. Caillouet comes to Lynred following a 30-year career in international roles within various Thales divisions, including vice president of radiology at Thales and CEO of Trixell.

Ganesh Moorthy. Courtesy of Ayar. SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Ayar has added Ganesh Moorthy and Craig Barratt to its board of directors and Vladimir Stojanovic as its CTO. Moorthy currently serves as the president and CEO of Microchip Technology Inc. and is on...

Software technology company Synopsys has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Ansys for approximately $35 billion. The acquisition adds Ansys’ broad simulation and analysis portfolio to Synopsys’s design automation technology. Both companies are active in the development of software for optical imaging, illumination, and automotive lighting design, among other applications.

Through the acquisition, Synopsys’ total addressable market is expected to increase by 1.5× to approximately $28 billion.

Ansys, a developer of end-to-end multiphysics and multiscale simulation platforms for optical technologies, has collaborated with Synopsys since 2017. Ansys' software tools allow designers to expedite...

Researchers from Peking University developed a high-efficiency ultrathin optical crystal based on boron nitride. According to Liu Kaihui, director of the Institute of Condensed Matter and Material Physics at Peking University, the research provides a brand-new design model and material system, opening avenues in basic optics theory, materials science, and potential technologies.

Due to the limitations of traditional theory models and material systems, existing crystals have struggled to meet the requirements for developing future laser devices, such as miniaturization, high integration, and functionalization.

Optical phase matching involves establishing a proper phase relationship between the fundamental excitation and...

Oxford Instruments has acquired specialist camera provider First Light Imaging. Following the acquisition, the company will become part of Oxford Instruments Andor, complementing the company’s existing scientific camera portfolio and enabling expansion into adjacent markets.

Under the terms of the acquisition, Oxford Instruments will pay an initial cash consideration of €15.7 million ($17.2 million), on a cash-free, debt-free basis, with a further €3 million cash consideration conditional on First Light’s trading performance over a 12-month period following completion.

The Oxford Instruments group comprises businesses including Andor Technology, Oxford Instruments Plasma Technology, and WITec. Its...

Researchers have developed a technology that uses meta-optical devices to perform thermal imaging. The approach captures richer information about imaged objects, including spectral and polarization details, which could broaden the use of thermal imaging in fields such as autonomous navigation, security, thermography, medical imaging, and remote sensing.

According to research team leader Zubin Jacob, the method is able to overcome limitations of traditional spectral imagers, which are often bulky and fragile due to their reliance on large filter wheels or interferometers. “We combined meta-optical devices and cutting-edge computational imaging algorithms to create a system that is both compact and robust while also having a...

The process of 4D printing is an extension of 3D printing, in which solid objects are created using materials that can change shape when exposed to certain stimuli like heat, water, or light.

At the University of Queensland’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN), researchers have printed 4D structures using liquid metal polymers that can be coaxed into performing a range of mechanical tasks with infrared lasers.
AIBN researchers Ruirui Qiao (left) and Liwen Zhang have developed a new method to prepare liquid metal polymers for 4D printing. The solid 4D structures created by their lab can be manipulated into different shapes with an infrared laser. Courtesy of AIBN.
Lead researchers Liwen Zhang...