Photonics

IBM has come up with a way to make training and running generative AI models five times faster and much more energy efficient by swapping out copper wires for beams of light to connect data center components.

The speed record for data transmission using a single light source and optical chip has been shattered. Engineers have transmitted data at a blistering rate of 1.84 petabits per second (Pbit/s), almost twice the global internet traffic per second.

A powerful new optical chip can process almost two billion images per second. The device is made up of a neural network that processes information as light without needing components that slow down traditional computer chips, like memory.

A new type of radar can measure objects down to centimeters. The new technique uses a photonic system to generate much higher bandwidth signals, enabling radar that can detect smaller objects, and even monitor patient vital signs in hospitals.

Quantum computers are so far held back by their complexity. Engineers at Stanford have now demonstrated a new relatively simple design for a quantum computer where a single atom is entangled with a series of photons to process and store information.

Engineers at Stanford have created a new optical device that can easily manipulate light into basically any color desired. The system uses a series of modulators to fine-tune the frequencies of individual photons to change their color.

A new record has been achieved for the fastest internet speed from a single light source – an absolutely astounding 44.2 terabits per second, 44,000 times faster than the highest speed connection. It was made possible by a new kind of optical chip.

MIT spin off company Ayar Labs is combining electrons and light in new optoelectronic chips to speed up data transmission and reduce energy consumption in chip-to-chip communications by 95 percent.

An international team of researchers has found a way to create microscopically-small lasers directly from silicon, unlocking the possibilities of direct integration of photonics on silicon, and a significant step towards light-based computers.

NASA is working to develop the next generation of high-speed modems using an emerging technology called integrated photonics. ​

Researchers from the University of Bristol and Nippon Telegraph and Telephone claim to have developed a fully-programmable quantum optical chip able to encode and manipulate photons in an infinite number of ways. This breakthrough may pave the way for true quantum optical computing systems.

Researchers have created a prototype optical antenna that is claimed to increase the intensity of emission from a nanorod light source by more than 115 times. This technique may offer the opportunity to replace power-hungry lasers with LEDs in short-range optical communications devices.