Collaboration with Harvard University led researchers to develop an electro-optical
The new modulator was made possible thanks tothe use of a "complex" compound - silicon carbide. Silicon carbide was first recognized as a truly fantastic material for photonics over three decades ago when it was discovered to exhibit the Pockels effect, a method of polarizing light used in electrical engineering. Despite the exceptional durability of silicon carbide under difficult electrical, mechanical and radiation conditions, its use in photonics has been limited.
Lead researcher from the School of Electrical Engineering andUniversity of Sydney Information Engineering Professor Xiaoke Yi said: "The use of silicon carbide will potentially open up a new chapter of possibilities in photonics for various applications, including quantum computing."
Electro-optical modulators encodeelectrical signals to optical media. They are essential for the operation of global communications systems and data centers used for artificial intelligence, broadband networks and high-performance computing.
"Modulators using the Pockels effect,provide ultra-fast and wideband data transmission with low losses. Overcoming the previous inoperability of silicon carbide could enable the creation of unique photonic integrated circuits for the transmission and processing of broadband and high-speed signals, as well as for new quantum technologies,” said Professor Yi, a member of the Sydney Nano-Institute.
Leading researcher at HarvardUniversity, Professor Marco Lonkar said: “The silicon carbide modulator is likely to find application in quantum communications. For example, they can be used to control the temporal and spectral properties of the quantum emitters that exist in this material, as well as direct photons in a reconfigurable way.”
It has been shown that the modulator of the Sydney andHarvard University has no signal degradation and exhibits stable performance at high optical intensity, enabling high optical signal-to-noise ratio for modern data center communications, 6G and satellites, and the future of quantum internet.
Read more:
After ten years of work, scientists questioned the Standard Model of physics
MIT builds stationary heat engine that outperforms turbines
Startup has created tiny robots that work in the human brain