Innovating Works

PhoMEC

Financiado
Photonic Integrated Microcombs as Multi wavelength Sources for Edge Data Centers
Over the past ten years the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements (LPQM) has developed and pioneered microcombs – photonic integrated optical frequency combs (OFC), providing access to equidistant optical carriers. Due... Over the past ten years the Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements (LPQM) has developed and pioneered microcombs – photonic integrated optical frequency combs (OFC), providing access to equidistant optical carriers. Due to their broad bandwidth, high repetition rates, compactness and wafer-scale fabrication, such microcombs represent a novel disruptive technology with a proven track record. While their advantages were shown in ultrafast ranging (LIDAR), high-speed coherent telecommunications, as well as chip-scale atomic clocks and frequency synthesizers, the technology is not yet commercially available and only present in a few research laboratories worldwide. Recent LPQM advances have led to the development of unique proprietary Si3N4 microfabrication processes for ultra-low-power microcombs, and allowed in-house photonic packaging. Taken together the laboratory is now able to implement full-cycle production of a packaged microcomb ready for the integration into a commercial product. We aim to bring the technology to the market by building and promoting a rack-mountable microcomb unit with 100 GHz channel spacing matching the ITU frequency grid over C- and L- telecom bands. The key market segments of the proposed microcomb unit are enterprise and edge data centers, facing growing data traffic and requiring WDM sources for high-speed interconnects. The product will be tested in collaboration with Microsoft UK in an actual data center application as a WDM source for optical circuit switching. We also plan to showcase the technology to Huawei and Nokia Bell Labs who expressed interest in testing. Beyond field-testing with industry partners, the system will be shown at international industry trade fairs to address key stakeholders. The project aims to incorporate a dedicated startup to exploit the technologies. The IP position that EPFL has developed in microcombs and the recent spin-off LIGENTEC that offer SiN foundry service, make this endeavor realistic. ver más
30/04/2021
EPFL
150K€
Duración del proyecto: 22 meses Fecha Inicio: 2019-06-28
Fecha Fin: 2021-04-30

Línea de financiación: concedida

El organismo H2020 notifico la concesión del proyecto el día 2021-04-30
Línea de financiación objetivo El proyecto se financió a través de la siguiente ayuda:
ERC-2019-POC: ERC Proof of Concept Grant
Cerrada hace 5 años
Presupuesto El presupuesto total del proyecto asciende a 150K€
Líder del proyecto
ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE FEDERALE DE LAUSANNE No se ha especificado una descripción o un objeto social para esta compañía.
Perfil tecnológico TRL 4-5