Phys.org October 5, 2023 The coupling of microwave and optical systems presents a challenge due to the natural incompatibility of energies, but potential applications range from optical interconnects for quantum computers to next-generation quantum microwave sensors, detectors, and coherent imagers. Emerging platforms are constrained by specific conditions. An international team of researchers (Poland, Denmark) designed a set-up using Rydberg atoms that allows wideband coupling of optical and microwave photons at room temperature. They demonstrated continuous-wave conversion of a 13.9 GHz field to a near-infrared optical signal using an ensemble of Rydberg atoms via a free-space six-wave mixing process designed to minimize […]
Tag Archives: Optical interconnects
Transferring data with many colors of light simultaneously
Nanowerk June 29, 2023 Using light to send information between compute nodes can dramatically increase the available bandwidth while simultaneously decreasing energy consumption. Through wavelength-division multiplexing with chip-based microresonator Kerr frequency combs, independent information channels can be encoded onto many distinct colours of light in the same optical fibre for massively parallel data transmission with low energy. Although previous high-bandwidth demonstrations have relied on benchtop equipment for filtering and modulating Kerr comb wavelength channels, data-centre interconnects require a compact on-chip form factor for these operations. Researchers at Columbia University have demonstrated a massively scalable chip-based silicon photonic data link using […]