the disruptive semiconductor technologies magazine - I-Micronews

OCTOBER 2010 issue n°100
THE DISRUPTIVE SEMICONDUCTOR TECHNOLOGIES MAGAZINE
PHOTONICS
New markets inspire growth at Modulight
From page 1
The company’s red lasers are also gaining
traction in the medical field, particularly for
fluorescence, photodynamic therapy (PDT)
and surgery.
In the midst of these emerging applications, Modulight
still goes back to its roots and is developing new
products for communications. “Today the most
interesting market segment there is test and
measurement, specifically the optical time-domain
reflectometers used to characterise optical fibers,”
said Petteri. “This is the ideal application for our
singlemode high-power pulsed lasers emitting
between 1310 and 1650 nm.”
www.modulight.com
OTDR lasers
UGent and imec launch silicon photonics spin-off Caliopa
Silicon photonics allows for small, highly integrated & low power optical transceivers for data and telecommunication.
Ghent University (UGent) and imec announced
the creation of Caliopa, a spin-off from their
world leading Photonics Research Group. An
initial 2 million Euro in funding was raised from
Baekeland, Fidimec, PMV-Vinnof, a private investor and
the founders. Caliopa will develop and market advanced
silicon photonics based optical transceivers for the data
and telecommunications markets.
According to the latest Market Forecast from
LightCounting LLC, the global sales of optical
transceivers will reach $2.4 billion in 2010, with the
market posting a 13% compound annual growth rate
(CAGR) between 2011 and 2014, as the industry
catches up with the steadily growing demand for
bandwidth. Caliopa will be able to build on the know-how,
intellectual property and experience of years of research
by the world renowned Photonics Research Group at
Ghent University and imec led by Prof. Roel Baets. In
addition, it will use the expertise in silicon processing of
the world-leading nanoelectronics research center
imec. To develop its first products, the company raised
2 million Euro in funding from a consortium of investors
led by Baekeland, Fidimec and PMV-Vinnof.
www.caliopa.com
Leti demonstrates the integration of CMOS-compatible plasmonic optical
waveguides with silicon photonic devices
Copper waveguides offer potential for developing smaller, more efficient, high-performance photonic components.
CEA-Leti, a leading European research and
development institute in the field of silicon
photonics technology, announced that it has
demonstrated the efficient integration of silicon
photonic devices with fully complementary metal-oxide
semiconductor (CMOS)-compatible plasmonic optical
waveguides. This new capability sets the stage for the
fabrication of smaller, faster and more efficient optoelectronic
interfaces, which could ultimately allow the
development of significantly higher-performance
sensors, computer chips and other electronic
components. Waveguides, including optical fibers, are
used to transmit signals and power in a variety of radio
and optical communications uses. Leti's new devices
channel light through a narrow silicon waveguide
placed in close proximity to a metal waveguide, causing
the light to excite small, high-frequency electromagnetic
waves, known as surface plasmons, in the metallic
structures. The resulting devices can convert optical
signals in the 1.5 micrometers (μm) communications
band into plasmonic electron waves, and convert the
plasmonic waves back into optical signals.
Leti's pioneering combination of extremely small
plasmonic-optical interfaces that connect to standard
optical fibers provides high coupling efficiencies (up to
70 percent) over a wide spectral range. And unlike
previous devices that have relied on metal waveguides
made from gold, Leti's metal waveguides are fabricated
with copper, allowing them to be easily integrated into
standard CMOS chip manufacturing processes.
The plasmonic-optical devices were designed and
fabricated by Leti, which collaborated with France's
Université de Technologie de Troyes (UTT) for
additional near-field scanning optical microscope
testing and characterization. The project results were
presented earlier this month at the Group Four
Photonics 2010 show in Beijing, and published in Nano
Letters, a journal of the American Chemical Society.
www.leti.fr
Quantum signals converted to telecom wavelengths
Using optically dense, ultracold clouds of rubidium atoms, three key elements needed for quantum information systems
have been advanced — including a technique for converting photons carrying quantum data to wavelengths that can
be transmitted long distances on optical fiber telecom networks.
The developments move quantum information
networks — which securely encode information
by entangling photons and atoms — closer to a
possible prototype system. Researchers at the Georgia
Institute of Technology reported the findings Sept. 26 in
the journal Nature Physics, and in a manuscript
submitted for publication in the journal Physical Review
Letters.
The advances include:
• Development of an efficient, low-noise system for
converting photons carrying quantum information at
infrared wavelengths to longer wavelengths suitable
for transmission on conventional telecommunications
systems. The researchers have demonstrated that
the system, believed to be the first of its kind, maintains
the entangled information during conversion to
telecom wavelengths — and back down to the original
infrared wavelengths.
• A significant improvement in the length of time that a
quantum repeater — which would be necessary to
transmit the information — can maintain the information
in memory. The Georgia Tech team reported memory
lasting as long as 0.1 second, 30 times longer than
previously reported for systems based on cold neutral
atoms and approaching the quantum memory goal of
at least one second — long enough to transmit the
information to the next node in the network.
• An efficient, low-noise system able to convert photons
of telecom wavelengths back to infrared wavelengths.
Such a system would be necessary for detecting
entangled photons transmitted by a quantum
information system.
www.gatech.edu
Experimental equipment used to study quantum
information systems at Georgia Tech
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