Quantum dot photonics array open up 80THz of new bandwidth for the data centre

By Nick Flaherty www.swinnovation.co.uk

Researchers in the UK and Japan unlocked 80THz of fibre-optic bandwidth that will enable future exascale data centres and transform 5G networks.

The collaboration between the University of Bristol’s Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Keio University and numerous Japanese industrial partners, have designed, developed and prototyped an all-optical router that can unlock 80 THz of bandwidth across a newly defined frequency band named T-Band (thousand band) and O-Band (original band). The adjacent bands span from 1.0 μm (300 THz) to 1.36 μm (220 THz) and are able to support 1600 channels at 50 GHz spacing.

The technology fabricated and tested is based on cascaded arrayed waveguide gratings (AWGs) and is designed to potentially construct a 1600 x 1600 wavelength router that can guide data through. This uses quantum dot chips for the light sources which were originally developed by NICT in Japan.

“The technology and system proposed and prototyped will unlock the new frequency band and networks to support future exascale data centres, ‘zero-latency’ tactile optical internet, internet of everything, smart cities, fog computing and big data infrastructure among others," said Dr Georgios Zervas, Senior Lecturer in Optical and High Performance Networks in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

A single passive optical system can interconnect over one million end points such as, broadband home users, IoT devices, data centre servers, while offering at least ten Gb/s per end point. It is also future proof since it’s transparent to any communication signal and it can also potentially consume zero power due to its passive nature says Hiroyuki Tsuda, Professor of Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University. “The enabling technologies for the new frequency band are the quantum dot based optical devices and the silica planar lightwave circuits designed for the new band," he added.

T-Ray teams with the University of Leeds on terahertz research

T-Ray Science in  an emerging leader in TeraHertz research in Canada, is teaming up with the University of Leeds to develop low cost, pulsed and continuous wave ("CW"), fibre coupled terahertz (THz) spectrometers that operate at telecoms wavelengths. Professor Edmund Linfield (Chair in Terahertz Electronics, Director of the Institute of Microwaves and Photonics) will lead the project in the School of Electronic and Electrical Engineering, with Dr. John Cunningham (Reader in High Frequency Electronics and Terahertz Photonics), and Professor Giles Davies (Chair of Electronic and Photonic Engineering). The commercial advantage to developing a spectrometer at the telecom wavelength is the ability to use mass produced telecom components such as lasers, fibres and couplers which could reduce the cost of a system by 90% compared to THz systems currently available.
"The collaboration with the University of Leeds could lead to low cost, compact and easy to use THz diagnostic and imaging systems for applications in medical imaging, explosives detection, airport security, and manufacturing quality control," said Thomas Braun, President and CEO of T-Ray Science. "We are honoured to have the opportunity to work with a world class university in developing this cutting edge technology. T-Ray is a natural industrial partner for the University of Leeds as we hold the exclusive license from MIT (the Massachusetts Institute of Technology) for the CW coherent detection system. Our collaboration with the University of Leeds compliments our other collaborations with the University of Victoria, the University of Sherbrooke and the University of Manitoba, all aimed at lowering the cost and increasing the power of existing THz diagnostic and imaging systems."
The University of Leeds received a grant from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council of the United Kingdom to fund a project to develop a low cost, pulsed and continuous wave ("CW"), fibre coupled terahertz (THz) spectrometer which operates at telecoms wavelengths. T-Ray supported the grant application and will assist in the project through laboratory tests of the newly developed system. The Company will also have the opportunity to license any Intellectual Property that may result from the project.
T-Ray owns the exclusive license from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for the only known CW coherent detection system which was invented by Drs. Simon Verghese and Alex McIntosh. The CW system being developed by Leeds will produce continuous THz waves at a fixed frequency for a very low cost and will be more compact and robust because of the use of mass produced diode lasers, rather than the large and expensive Ti:Sapphire lasers traditionally used by THz researchers.

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