Thursday, October 3, 2013

CU, MIT breakthrough in photonics could allow for faster and faster electronics

CU, MIT breakthrough in photonics could allow for faster and faster electronics | University of Colorado Boulder

CU Nanophotonics Research Overview:

We are interested in nanophotonic device concepts and circuit design motivated by challenges in system level applications in areas including telecommunications, on-chip interconnects, sensing and imaging, energy conversion and control, and classical and quantum computation and information processing. We are generally interested in first-principles innovation in device design using new physical principles in photonics as well as at the interface of nanophotonics, nanomechanics, solid-state and quantum electronics, and other fields. Our research involves rigorous theory and design of novel devices and concepts, and the experimental study and characterization of fabricated proof-of-concept device chips. For more information see research.
Vladimir Stojanovic, who leads one of the MIT teams collaborating on the project and who is the lead principal investigator for the overall research program, said the group’s work on optical modulators is a significant step forward.

“On top of the energy-efficiency and bandwidth-density advantages of silicon-photonics over electrical wires, photonics integrated into CMOS processes with no process changes provides enormous cost-benefits and advantage over traditional photonic systems,” Stojanovic said.

The CU-led effort is a part of a larger project on building a complete photonic processor-memory system, which includes research teams from MIT led by Stojanovic, Rajeev Ram and Michael Watts, a team from Micron Technology led by Roy Meade and a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Krste Asanovic.  The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation - See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics#sthash.OIXHUzV5.dpuf

Vladimir Stojanovic, who leads one of the MIT teams collaborating on the project and who is the lead principal investigator for the overall research program, said the group’s work on optical modulators is a significant step forward.

“On top of the energy-efficiency and bandwidth-density advantages of silicon-photonics over electrical wires, photonics integrated into CMOS processes with no process changes provides enormous cost-benefits and advantage over traditional photonic systems,” Stojanovic said.

The CU-led effort is a part of a larger project on building a complete photonic processor-memory system, which includes research teams from MIT led by Stojanovic, Rajeev Ram and Michael Watts, a team from Micron Technology led by Roy Meade and a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Krste Asanovic.  The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation - See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics#sthash.OIXHUzV5.dpuf
 Vladimir Stojanovic ISG MIT

MIT Integrated CMOS Photonics

Energy-Efficient Monolithic CMOS Photonic NEtworks for manycore Processors


Sponsors
DARPA, NSF, FCRP IFC, Trusted Foundry, Intel, MIT CICS, NSERC, and Angstrom

People
Ben Moss, Michael Georgas, Jonathan Leu, Chen Sun. We collaborate with the groups of Prof. Rajeev Ram, Prof. Franz Kaertner, Prof. Judy Hoyt, Prof. Henry Smith and Prof. Erich Ippen at MIT , Prof. Krste Asanovic at UC Berkeley, and Prof. Milos Popovic at University of Colorado at Boulder.

This project is investigating the integration of photonics in SOI and bulk CMOS processes. The throughput bounds of traditional interconnect networks in microprocessors are being pushed to their limits. In past single-core processors, the number of long global wires constituted only a small fraction of the total. However, with the emergence of multi-core systems, where each core must communicate with each other as well as with off-chip memory, global interconnects have become a major bottleneck. The solution has been proposed through integrated photonic networks[1, 3], where multiple channels of information can be placed onto a single low-latency waveguide, reducing the number of interconnects and increasing the link bandwidth and efficiency. We are developing methods to integrate this exciting new technology from the transistor and circuit level through to the system architecture level.
Vladimir Stojanovic, who leads one of the MIT teams collaborating on the project and who is the lead principal investigator for the overall research program, said the group’s work on optical modulators is a significant step forward.

“On top of the energy-efficiency and bandwidth-density advantages of silicon-photonics over electrical wires, photonics integrated into CMOS processes with no process changes provides enormous cost-benefits and advantage over traditional photonic systems,” Stojanovic said.

The CU-led effort is a part of a larger project on building a complete photonic processor-memory system, which includes research teams from MIT led by Stojanovic, Rajeev Ram and Michael Watts, a team from Micron Technology led by Roy Meade and a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Krste Asanovic.  The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation - See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics#sthash.OIXHUzV5.dpuf
Vladimir Stojanovic, who leads one of the MIT teams collaborating on the project and who is the lead principal investigator for the overall research program, said the group’s work on optical modulators is a significant step forward.

“On top of the energy-efficiency and bandwidth-density advantages of silicon-photonics over electrical wires, photonics integrated into CMOS processes with no process changes provides enormous cost-benefits and advantage over traditional photonic systems,” Stojanovic said.

The CU-led effort is a part of a larger project on building a complete photonic processor-memory system, which includes research teams from MIT led by Stojanovic, Rajeev Ram and Michael Watts, a team from Micron Technology led by Roy Meade and a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Krste Asanovic.  The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation - See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics#sthash.OIXHUzV5.dpuf
Vladimir Stojanovic, who leads one of the MIT teams collaborating on the project and who is the lead principal investigator for the overall research program, said the group’s work on optical modulators is a significant step forward.

“On top of the energy-efficiency and bandwidth-density advantages of silicon-photonics over electrical wires, photonics integrated into CMOS processes with no process changes provides enormous cost-benefits and advantage over traditional photonic systems,” Stojanovic said.

The CU-led effort is a part of a larger project on building a complete photonic processor-memory system, which includes research teams from MIT led by Stojanovic, Rajeev Ram and Michael Watts, a team from Micron Technology led by Roy Meade and a team from the University of California, Berkeley, led by Krste Asanovic.  The research was funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Science Foundation - See more at: http://www.colorado.edu/news/features/cu-mit-breakthrough-photonics-could-allow-faster-and-faster-electronics#sthash.OIXHUzV5.dpuf

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