The practical applications of this technology include all-optical reconfigurable routers, ultra-fast optical modulators and optical switches for optical networks, and microwave photonic circuits. What is needed now is to develop these ideas into practical applications as soon as possible.
In an interview with reporters, the project leader, professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Southampton, described the latest developments in current research and market expectations. Optical interconnection technology is becoming the backbone technology of today’s optical network. At present, chip-level interconnection technology can be realized by a variety of technologies. The specific realization depends on whether it is monochromatic light and whether it needs to be independently propagated to a separate output when outputting polychromatic light.
Many functions can be achieved by cascading traditional devices, such as arrayed waveguide gratings and interferometers. However, due to the large size of these traditional devices, they are restricted by the effective size of silicon optical chips, which limits their application in optical networks. But our method is different from the traditional method, which can make the device arrangement very compact by using multi-mode control. Through the disturbance mode, the direction of light propagation can be determined. This concept is very common and is expected to be used to realize highly flexible and compact laser pointer pointers. ”
At present, our work is still more basic research. Next, we need to transform new concepts into actual products and equipment. We believe that optical control will be a feasible method in the future. On the one hand, the cost of effective light sources is getting lower and lower; on the other hand, the light source and modulator can be directly integrated on the chip. This implementation method may be used in the next generation of applications.
In addition, more work is needed to explore the specific implementation mechanism of this technology. Since this technology relies on external light sources and digital micro-mirrors for modulation, its initial application should be based on the development of laboratory equipment, and it will slowly shift to green laser pointer large-scale wafer processing and testing. Eventually, we will push this technology to field programmable logic devices, when the functional changes of logic devices will no longer require a new design and manufacturing cycle. We are currently focusing on commercial promotion within the Southampton Silicon Optoelectronics Program.