Photonic Integrated Modulators for Aerospace and Data/Telecom

现代社会对快速可靠通信的需求支持了工业、物联网、交通系统、娱乐电子产品的运行，并允许信息和知识的交换。大多数服务依赖于提供低成本、高容量、低功耗的网络连接的光互联，包括数据中心、卫星、超级计算机和互联网。根据思科的报告，包括互联网在内的网络流量在2020年已增加到40 ZB数据。正确地说，从人类诞生到2003年，产生的总数据是0.5%Zetabyte。此外，不断增长的数据流量在2020年占全球总排放量的12%。因此，开发更高容量和更低功耗的高效网络至关重要。该项目将有助于开发更高效的调制器，这将影响用于地面和卫星的通信系统，以增加容量，减少污染，并改善航空航天系统、数据中心、高性能计算机和网络中光互连的环境可持续性。展示用于航空航天应用的调制器的辐射和温度弹性：砷化铟量子点的辐射和温度耐受性将超过采用量子井的竞争开发，后者1.容忍10倍和5倍数量级的辐射和温度，2.提供更少的带宽，以及3.主要在高温下运行时的高功耗。该调制器将有助于用轻、低功耗和超快的光互连来取代当前的解决方案，在这些解决方案中，重、耗电且速度慢的电互连。这项研究将利用1.高数据速率卫星通信作为改善服务的基础，包括偏远和农村地区的快速互联网，以及2.尺寸和重量的减少将改善航天器的燃料消耗和实现净零排放的污染。利用量子点对穿线位错的弹性和材料应力，在硅上生长调制器，为硅光子平台带来更高效的调制器。由于硅中的弱调制效应，不可能制造出高效的调制器。另一方面，利用更高效的调制器，量子点表现出比硅更强的效应，并且由于它们在硅上生长时的弹性，将比目前的量子井单片集成方法表现得更好。这一发展将影响使用硅基光子集成电路(PIC)的商业光学互连以及依赖它们的现有网络。通过将量子点调制器集成到现有的商用硅基PIC中，地面光互连的性能将得到改善，为数据中心、高性能计算机和互联网中更高效的网络奠定基础。VTT是一家硅光子铸造厂，将提供硅PIC。为了确保研究的商业意义，该项目与航空航天和数据/电信领域的主要工业参与者合作，包括空中客车、Alter Technology、Bay Photonics、STAR-Dundee和VTT。此外，这项工作将在国家外延设施和化合物半导体研究所进行。因此，该项目很好地培训了相关工业问题的研究人员，评估了该技术的商业相关性，并指导了未来的发展。

The modern society's need for fast and reliable communications supports the operation of industries, the Internet of things, transportation systems, entertainment electronics and allows the exchange of information and knowledge. Most services rely on optical interconnects that provide low-cost, high-capacity, low-power consumption network connections, including data centers, satellites, supercomputers, and the Internet.According to the Cisco report, the network traffic, including the Internet, has increased to 40 Zettabytes of data in 2020. To put the numbers in perspective, the total data generated from the beginning of humanity until 2003 is 0.5% of a Zettabyte. Furthermore, the ever-increasing data traffic accounted for 12% of total global emissions in 2020. As a result, it is crucial to develop efficient networks with higher capacity and reduced power consumption.This project will contribute to more efficient modulators, which will impact communication systems used in ground and satellites to increase capacity, reduce pollution, and improve the environmental sustainability of optical interconnects in aerospace systems, data centers, high-performance computers, and networks.This research will exploit the properties of indium arsenide quantum dots, including1. the radiation and temperature resilience to demonstrate a modulator for aerospace applications: indium arsenide quantum dot's radiation and temperature tolerance will outperform competing developments employing quantum wells, which 1. tolerates 10x and 5x orders of magnitude less radiation and temperature, 2. offers less bandwidth, and 3. high power consumption mainly when operating at high temperatures. This modulator will contribute to substitute current solutions, where heavy, power-hungry, and slow electrical interconnects by light, low-power consumption, and ultra-fast optical interconnects. The research will leverage 1. high-data rates satellite communications underpinning improved services, including fast Internet in remote and rural areas, and 2. the reduced size and weight will improve spacecraft fuel consumption and pollution towards net-zero emission.2. the resilience to threading dislocation, and material stress of quantum dots, will be exploited to grow the modulator over silicon to bring more efficient modulators to the silicon photonic platform. Due to the weak modulating effects in silicon, it is not possible to produce efficient modulators. On the other hand, quantum dots exhibit stronger effects than silicon leveraging more efficient modulators and will outperform current quantum well monolithic integration approaches due to their resilience when grown over silicon. This development will impact the commercial optical interconnects using silicon-based photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and current networks relying on them. By integrating the quantum dot modulator into the existing commercial silicon-based PICs, the performance of ground optical interconnects will be improved, underpinning more efficient networks in data centers, high-performance computers, and the Internet. VTT, a silicon photonic foundry, will provide the silicon PICs.To ensure commercial relevance of the research, this project partners with key industrial players in the aerospace and data/telecom sectors and includes Airbus, ALTER Technology, Bay Photonics, STAR-Dundee and VTT. Additionally, the work will be carried out at the National Epitaxy Facility and the Institute for Compound Semiconductors. Hence, this project is well placed on training researchers in relevant industrial problems, evaluating the technology's commercial relevance, and guiding future developments.