Optical Glass Amplifiers for High Capacity Networks

在即将到来的人工智能和物联网时代的推动下，通信网络承载的数据流量正在爆炸式增长。这个互联的世界创造了对带宽的加速需求，这种需求正在迅速超越当前可用技术的限制。下一代光网络迫切需要通过光纤链路增加传输路径。光放大器是这些网络的核心，使信息能够在数千公里的透明网络中流动。然而，这些关键构件目前限制了光纤传输的性能。光放大器的设计需要重新审视，以扩大其覆盖范围，并在光谱和空间域打开新的窗口。为了应对这一挑战，该项目提出了材料科学，光子技术和电信应用的研究。该项目的成果将大大提高未来光通信系统的容量，并优化能源效率。我们的团队由三名精英研究人员组成，他们拥有光学和激光中心（COPL）的互补专业知识，该中心是一个公认的研究中心，支持多学科研究，是加拿大光学和光子学专业知识的据点。我们研究团队的不同背景和我们实验室的高质量为高素质人才提供了卓越的研究和培训环境。该合作项目的重点是加速光放大器领域的创新。一个重要的副产品将是加强拉瓦尔大学的材料，光子和通信专业知识，这将有助于其他应用领域，如光纤激光器，传感器和接入网络。该项目将为我们的工业合作伙伴的创新研究计划提供关键进展，并将有助于扩大其活动，为渥太华和魁北克市地区提供经济效益。

Data traffic carried by communication networks is exploding, driven by the coming era of artificial intelligence and internet-of-things. This interconnected world creates an accelerating demand for bandwidth that is fast outstripping the limits of currently available technologies. Next generation optical networks urgently need to multiply the transmission paths through optical fiber links. Optical amplifiers are at the heart of these networks, allowing information to flow through transparent networks for thousands of kilometers. However, these key building blocks are currently limiting the performance of optical fiber transmissions. Optical amplifier design needs to be revisited to extend its coverage and open new windows in both the spectral and spatial domain. To address this challenge, this project proposes research in material science, photonic technologies and telecommunication applications. The outcomes of this project will lead to significantly increased capacity of future optical communications systems with optimized energy efficiency. Our team is composed of three elite researchers with complementary expertise from the Center for Optics and Lasers (COPL), which is a recognized research center that supports multi-disciplinary research and is a stronghold of Canadian expertise in optics and photonics. The varied background of our research team and the high quality of our laboratories provide an exceptional research and training environment for highly qualified personnel. This partnership project focuses on accelerating innovation in the field of optical amplifiers. An important by-product will be strengthening the material, photonic and communication expertise at Université Laval, which will contribute to other application areas such as fiber lasers, sensors, and access networks. This project will provide key advance to the innovative research program of our industrial partner and will help to grow its activities, providing economic benefits in Ottawa and Québec City areas.