Lithium tantalate photonic integrated circuits for volume manufacturing. (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38720075/)

These scientists wanted to make a special kind of technology called electro-optical photonic integrated circuits (PICs) more affordable and easier to produce. These circuits are really important because they help with things like data-centre communications, high-performance computing, and even photonic accelerators for artificial intelligence.

They found a new material called lithium tantalate (LiTaO(3)) that is already used in 5G technology, so it's cheaper to work with. They were able to make low-loss PICs using a special manufacturing process that involves deep ultraviolet light.

They made a specific type of modulator called a Mach-Zehnder modulator (MZM) out of this new material, and it worked really well, with a high-speed bandwidth of up to 40 GHz. This new material also allows for circuits to be more compact and work across different communication bands.

Overall, their work shows that these new circuits can be made more easily and at a lower cost, which is really exciting for the future of technology!

Wang C., Li Z., Riemensberger J., Lihachev G., Churaev M., Kao W., Ji X., Zhang J., Blesin T., Davydova A., Chen Y., Huang K., Wang X., Ou X., Kippenberg TJ. Lithium tantalate photonic integrated circuits for volume manufacturing. Nature. 2024 May;629(8013):784-790. doi: 10.1038/s41586-024-07369-1. Epub 2024 May 8.