Photonically-synthesized Digital-to-Analogue Conversion
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Electronic and Electrical Engineering
Abstract
Digital-to-Analogue Conversion (DAC) that links the digital domain of '1s' and '0s' to the real-world analogue signals (current and voltage) is an indispensable functionality that enabled the modern ICT. High-speed and high-resolution of DAC, which can generate arbitrary RF signals, is the basis of various applications spanning optical communications, mobile communications, high-definition imaging and the emerging virtual reality. Nevertheless, the realisation of high-speed and high-resolution DAC is extremely challenging due to two reasons. First, there is a trade-off between the resolution (measured by the signal to noise and distortion ratio) and the speed of the DAC. Second, the conventional method of improving DAC speed by reducing the transistor size is now approaching the fundamental limit of electronic fabrication, in which the smallest transistor only contains 10s of atoms. On the other hand, photonics offer over 1000 times more bandwidth resource than conventional radio frequency (RF) electronic device. The substantial technological progress of optoelectronic component in the last decade has enabled a fine control of the amplitude and phase of a lightwave. Photodiode that converts the optical signal to electrical current now can achieve more than 100 Gigahertz frequency range.
This project aims to unlock the potential of photonics technologies for future high-speed, high-resolution photonically-synthesized DAC (PhotoDAC) that is capable of generating arbitrary RF signals beyond the bounds of electronic fabrication. This capability will be enabled by a joint innovation of photonics, electronics, and digital signal processing techniques. In this project, the research team will build a prototype DAC instrument using off-the-shelf and customised components. Control software and digital signal processing schemes will be developed to ensure a durable and high-performance DAC prototype. Based on the prototype DAC instrument, the research team will investigate its application in high-speed optical communications, aiming a significantly increased transmission data rate.
This project aims to unlock the potential of photonics technologies for future high-speed, high-resolution photonically-synthesized DAC (PhotoDAC) that is capable of generating arbitrary RF signals beyond the bounds of electronic fabrication. This capability will be enabled by a joint innovation of photonics, electronics, and digital signal processing techniques. In this project, the research team will build a prototype DAC instrument using off-the-shelf and customised components. Control software and digital signal processing schemes will be developed to ensure a durable and high-performance DAC prototype. Based on the prototype DAC instrument, the research team will investigate its application in high-speed optical communications, aiming a significantly increased transmission data rate.
Planned Impact
It is expected that this project will generate impacts in the academic community and create industrial impact with IP and potential products.
*Academic and research community: This project will benefit researchers in both industry and academia working in the field of telecommunications, microwave, and photonics. The PI will target to publish the research results in high-impact journal publications (e.g. Nature Communications, Journal of Lightwave Technology), and top international conferences (e.g., OFC, ECOC, CLEO). The research outcomes from this project will also be disseminated to academic researchers via workshop, press release, and seminars. This project will create a new interdisciplinary research area that innovates DAC using photonics means. It is also expected that the success of this project will lead to a follow-up project focusing on a fully-integrated photoDAC.
*Creation of new products: A successful development of the high-speed high-resolution DAC prototype will result in a new instrument that can be commercialised. In addition to the overall DAC system, this project will develop two key subsystems, the tone extraction subsystem and the coherent synthesis subsystem, both of which have potential to be commercialised in their own right. The PI will explore potential product development through the collaboration with the industrial partners (Eblana and Oclaro). The partners will have access to UCL's state-of-the-art testing facilities, which will undoubtedly promote their product development and innovation. If the demand for the instrument/technology developed in this project is sufficient to generate a steady income, the PI will also consider creating a new spin-off company.
*Educate the future engineers, researchers and innovators: Skill development will be first applied to the involved student and PDRA. The industrial partners will dedicate effort and time to train the student and PDRA involved in this project. The PI is one of the supervisors in the UCL-Cambridge Doctoral Training (CDT) in Integrated Photonic and Electronic Systems. Through the CDT and UCL's undergraduate lectures, the PI will educate and train new researchers and innovators with the necessary skills for this research field.
*Impact beyond ICT: The functionality and subsystems developed within this project are directly transferable to other sectors within and beyond ICT. This project will benefit other non-expert knowledge users who may apply the developed technologies in their fields and products.
*Academic and research community: This project will benefit researchers in both industry and academia working in the field of telecommunications, microwave, and photonics. The PI will target to publish the research results in high-impact journal publications (e.g. Nature Communications, Journal of Lightwave Technology), and top international conferences (e.g., OFC, ECOC, CLEO). The research outcomes from this project will also be disseminated to academic researchers via workshop, press release, and seminars. This project will create a new interdisciplinary research area that innovates DAC using photonics means. It is also expected that the success of this project will lead to a follow-up project focusing on a fully-integrated photoDAC.
*Creation of new products: A successful development of the high-speed high-resolution DAC prototype will result in a new instrument that can be commercialised. In addition to the overall DAC system, this project will develop two key subsystems, the tone extraction subsystem and the coherent synthesis subsystem, both of which have potential to be commercialised in their own right. The PI will explore potential product development through the collaboration with the industrial partners (Eblana and Oclaro). The partners will have access to UCL's state-of-the-art testing facilities, which will undoubtedly promote their product development and innovation. If the demand for the instrument/technology developed in this project is sufficient to generate a steady income, the PI will also consider creating a new spin-off company.
*Educate the future engineers, researchers and innovators: Skill development will be first applied to the involved student and PDRA. The industrial partners will dedicate effort and time to train the student and PDRA involved in this project. The PI is one of the supervisors in the UCL-Cambridge Doctoral Training (CDT) in Integrated Photonic and Electronic Systems. Through the CDT and UCL's undergraduate lectures, the PI will educate and train new researchers and innovators with the necessary skills for this research field.
*Impact beyond ICT: The functionality and subsystems developed within this project are directly transferable to other sectors within and beyond ICT. This project will benefit other non-expert knowledge users who may apply the developed technologies in their fields and products.
Organisations
- University College London (Lead Research Organisation)
- HUAZHONG UNIVERSITY OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (Collaboration)
- Microsoft Research (Collaboration)
- Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) (Collaboration)
- Huawei Technologies (Collaboration)
- University of Bern (Collaboration)
- Eblana Photonics Ltd (Collaboration)
- II-VI Incorporated (Collaboration)
- Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) (Collaboration)
- Clemson University (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHAMPTON (Collaboration)
- Oclaro (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- Eblana Photonics (Ireland) (Project Partner)
- University of Southampton (Project Partner)
Publications
Clark K
(2020)
Synchronous subnanosecond clock and data recovery for optically switched data centres using clock phase caching
in Nature Electronics
Clark K
(2022)
Modeling the Performance of the Clock Phase Caching Approach to Clock and Data Recovery
in Journal of Lightwave Technology
Clark K
(2020)
Low Thermal Sensitivity Hollow Core Fiber for Optically-Switched Data Centers
in Journal of Lightwave Technology
Deakin C
(2020)
Noise and distortion analysis of dual frequency comb photonic RF channelizers.
in Optics express
Deakin C
(2019)
Dual frequency comb assisted analog-to-digital conversion
in Optics Letters
Deakin C
(2021)
Phase noise of electro-optic dual frequency combs.
in Optics letters
Gerard T
(2021)
AI-optimised tuneable sources for bandwidth-scalable, sub-nanosecond wavelength switching.
in Optics express
Gerard T
(2020)
Packet Timescale Wavelength Switching Enabled by Regression Optimisation
in IEEE Photonics Technology Letters
Hu Z
(2021)
Equalizer State Caching for Fast Data Recovery in Optically-Switched Data Center Networks
in Journal of Lightwave Technology
Liu Z
(2018)
Optical Injection-Locked Directly Modulated Lasers for Dispersion Pre-Compensated Direct-Detection Transmission
in Journal of Lightwave Technology
| Description | 1. We invent and experimentally prove a new method to amplify a single wavelength light without adding extra noise, based on which we can build our photonic-assisted analogue-to-digital converter; 2. We invent (patented) a new approach to realise conversion between analogue signals (e.g. voltage and current) and digital bits of 1s and 0s. Such approach is the gateway between the realise world and the digital world that we have built. Through our proof-of-concept experiments, we show our new methods have the potential to overcome the fundamental limits of speed (bandwidth) and noise in conventional electronic-only digital-to-analogue converters. 3. We investigate and report the fundamental performance limit of the proposed photonic-assisted data converter technology and show the optical-phase-noise-limited performance of this new data converter technology in our prototype systems. In addition to the concept demonstration, we have also started investigating the potential to fully integrate our systems, making it portable for instrumentation and communication applications. |
| Exploitation Route | 1. New knowledge. By publishing our findings we share the new findings and knowledge created in this project, our data, reports and publications enable other researchers can learn from our findings and our new approaches for their own research and education. 2. Prototype. We are developing a portable prototype that can be brought to partners and interested parties for field trial and testing. 3. Patent licensing. As appropriate we may license our patent to the industry for commercialisations. |
| Sectors | Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Other |
| Description | The project opens a new technological pathway towards digital-to-analogue converters using photonics-assisted means. In particular, it develops a new theoretical framework to predict the scaling of phase noise in optoelectronic dual frequency combs, based on which the performance boundary of the photonics-assisted method is derived. The new tools, assisted with experimental results, show that the photonic-assisted methods can outperform conventional pure-electronics DAC with a potential reduction in energy consumption. The development of enabling technologies such as stable optical injection locking and optical phase locking techniques has triggered new collaborations in other sectors, such as data communications, resulting in new patents and licencing to leading industry players. Several high-profile papers were published under the support of this grant, including one Nature Electronics reporting the state-of-the-art clock synchronisation technologies, which was developed alongside this project for subsystem synchronisation. As a fundamental tool, the scientific impact of the outcomes spans multiple interdisciplinary sectors, including ultra-fast science, metrology, integrated photonics as well as optical and wireless communications. Over the lifetime of this project, the PI and researchers gave more than five invited talks at top conferences, ensuring the successful dissemination of the outcomes to researchers in photonics and other relevant communities. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
| Sector | Communities and Social Services/Policy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Electronics,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
| Impact Types | Economic |
| Description | Development of a pre-commercialisation frequency comb prototype for cloud data centre networks and metro telecom systems |
| Amount | £87,321 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | D2U 2020-22 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2021 |
| End | 03/2022 |
| Description | Optically-switched Data Centre Networks Using Thermal-insensitive Hollow-Core Fibre |
| Amount | £24,491 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 04/2019 |
| End | 03/2020 |
| Description | Overcoming Resolution and Bandwidth limIT in radio-frequency Signal digitisation (ORBITS) |
| Amount | £877,216 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | EP/V051377/1 |
| Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
| Sector | Public |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 12/2021 |
| End | 11/2024 |
| Description | Photonic-assisted Real-time Oscilloscope |
| Amount | £74,839 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | PIF/R1/180001 |
| Organisation | The Royal Society |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2019 |
| End | 04/2022 |
| Title | Clock Synchronized Transmission of 51.2 GBd Optical Packets for Optically Switched Data Center Interconnects |
| Description | This data was used to plot the figures in the final accepted version of "Clock Synchronized Transmission of 51.2 GBdOptical Packets for Optically Switched Data Center Interconnects" hosted on UCL Discovery. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Clock_Synchronized_Transmission_of_51_2_GBd_Optical_Packets_f... |
| Title | Clock Synchronized Transmission of 51.2 GBd Optical Packets for Optically Switched Data Center Interconnects |
| Description | This data was used to plot the figures in the final accepted version of "Clock Synchronized Transmission of 51.2 GBdOptical Packets for Optically Switched Data Center Interconnects" hosted on UCL Discovery. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Clock_Synchronized_Transmission_of_51_2_GBd_Optical_Packets_f... |
| Title | Communications with Guaranteed Low Latency and Bandwidth using Frequency Referenced Multiplexing |
| Description | This is the dataset for Communications with Guaranteed Low Latency and Bandwidth using Frequency Referenced Multiplexing |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Communications_with_Guaranteed_Low_Latency_and_Bandwidth_usin... |
| Title | Communications with Guaranteed Low Latency and Bandwidth using Frequency Referenced Multiplexing |
| Description | This is the dataset for Communications with Guaranteed Low Latency and Bandwidth using Frequency Referenced Multiplexing |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Communications_with_Guaranteed_Low_Latency_and_Bandwidth_usin... |
| Title | Data for "All-fibre heterogenously-integrated frequency comb generation using silicon core fibre" |
| Description | Experimental data used in published version of [Sohanpal, R., Ren, H., Shen, L. et al. All-fibre heterogeneously-integrated frequency comb generation using silicon core fibre. Nat Commun 13, 3992 (2022)]. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Data_for_All-fibre_heterogenously-integrated_frequency_comb_g... |
| Title | Data for "All-fibre heterogenously-integrated frequency comb generation using silicon core fibre" |
| Description | Experimental data used in published version of [Sohanpal, R., Ren, H., Shen, L. et al. All-fibre heterogeneously-integrated frequency comb generation using silicon core fibre. Nat Commun 13, 3992 (2022)]. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Data_for_All-fibre_heterogenously-integrated_frequency_comb_g... |
| Title | Data supporting the paper "Modeling performance of the clock phase caching approach to clock and data recovery" |
| Description | This data was used to plot the figures in the final accepted version of "Modeling performance of the clock phase caching approach to clock and data recovery" hosted on UCL Discovery. The full published version of this paper may be found in the Journal of Lightwave Technology at 10.1109/jlt.2021.3130955. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Modeling_The_Performance_of_the_Clock_Phase_Caching_Approach_... |
| Title | Data supporting the paper "Modeling performance of the clock phase caching approach to clock and data recovery" |
| Description | This data was used to plot the figures in the final accepted version of "Modeling performance of the clock phase caching approach to clock and data recovery" hosted on UCL Discovery. The full published version of this paper may be found in the Journal of Lightwave Technology at 10.1109/jlt.2021.3130955. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Modeling_The_Performance_of_the_Clock_Phase_Caching_Approach_... |
| Title | Modeling The Performance of the Clock Phase Caching Approach to Clock and Data Recovery |
| Description | Optical switching could enable data center networks to keep pace with the rapid growth of intra-data center traffic, however, sub-nanosecond clock and data recovery time is crucial to enabling optically-switched data center networks to transport small packet dominated data center traffic with over 90% efficiency. The paper to which this dataset belongs reviews the clock-synchronized approach to clock and data recovery, which enables sub-nanosecond switching time in optically switched networks. The paper then introduce an analytical model to mathematically explore the operation of clock phase caching, and uses this model to explore the impact of factors such as fiber temperature, clock jitter and symbol rate on the BER and clock and data recovery locking time performance of the clock phase caching approach, as well as their impact on scalability. Using commercial data center parameters matching those used in our previous experimental research, our paper shows that our analytical model provides estimates that closely match our previous experimental results, validating its use for making predictions of the performance of clock phase cached systems. |
| Type Of Material | Database/Collection of data |
| Year Produced | 2022 |
| Provided To Others? | Yes |
| URL | https://rdr.ucl.ac.uk/articles/dataset/Modeling_The_Performance_of_the_Clock_Phase_Caching_Approach_... |
| Description | Comb tone extraction through optical injection locking of microring lasers |
| Organisation | Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | We brought the technology of stable optical injection locking and its application in the selection and amplification of individual tones in frequency comb. Through collaboration experiment at HPE site we achieved >20Gb/s data transmission using quantum dot microring lasers. This collaboration has led to two conference papers, two journal submission, and one joint patent application. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The partner, HPE, are the world leading manufacturer of microring lasers, optical interconnect systems and high performance computing systems. This collaboration provided the PI access to the state-of-the-art quantum dot comb lasers and microring lasers, opening new application of injection locking technologies. HPE has made direct contribution to the project by donating research components, and in-kind contribution through visit the PI and contributing to joint research. |
| Impact | D. Liang et al., "Optical injection-locked high-speed heterogeneous quantum-dot microring lasers", ECOC, 2019. D. Liang et al., "Heterogeneous Multi-wavelength Optical Injection Locked System-on-chip: a Proposal & Proof-of-concept Experiment," Asia Communications and Photonics Conference, M4D.4, 2019. |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Eblana Photonics collaboration |
| Organisation | Eblana Photonics Ltd |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Knowledge and research exchange |
| Collaborator Contribution | Provided components for a research project |
| Impact | Ongoing |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Electronic pre-equalisation of directly modulated lasers |
| Organisation | Eblana Photonics Ltd |
| Country | Ireland |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | The PI and his team design and optimise pre-emphasis equalisers that improve the signal-to-noise ratio of bandwidth limited directly modulated lasers. We also contribute to this collaboration our digital signal processing expertise, based on which we demonstrated improved performance for 64Gb/s and 128Gb/s direct modulation and direct detection transceivers. |
| Collaborator Contribution | The collaborator provided this collaboration with their research devices (directly modulated discrete mode lasers). Currently the collaborator also incorporated the new designs in their device manufacturing for next stage collaboration. |
| Impact | One joint paper publication. Z. Zhou et al., "Impact of Analog and Digital Pre-emphasis on the Signal-to-Noise Ratio of Bandwidth-limited Optical Transceivers", IEEE Photonics J., DOI:10.1109/JPHOT.2020.2966617, 2020 |
| Start Year | 2018 |
| Description | Gain-switching of injection locked high-speed directly modulated for comb generation |
| Organisation | II-VI Incorporated |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | In 2019, the PI builds a new collaboration with II-VI, which is one of the biggest optical device manufacturers in the world and is leading the research on optical transceivers especially directly modulated lasers. The PI visited their headquarters at Sunnyvale California (locate at the centre of silicon valley) and gave a talk on his research (optical injection locking and application). After that, the PI visited their principle laser scientist Matsui-san at Fremont California and spent a week there doing a joint experiment. The PI brought injection locking technology to the partner which helps demonstrate a gain-switching of directly modulated at a record high repetition rate, generating significant impact in laser science and optical communication fields. |
| Collaborator Contribution | This new collaboration gives PI and the PhotoDAC project access to new laser technologies and received a donation of state-of-art laser device (worth more than £10k) for future work. This new collaboration has also led to an internship programme that allows UCL PhD students to take an internship at II-VI laser labs. |
| Impact | Joint publications in journal and top conference: Z. Liu et al., "50-GHz Repetition Gain Switching Using A Cavity-enhanced DFB Laser Assisted By Optical Injection Locking," J. Lightw. Technol., DOI: 10.1109/JLT.2020.2973198, 2020 Z. Liu et al., "50-GHz Gain Switching and Period Doubling Using an Optical Injection Locked Cavity-enhanced DFB Laser," OFC, T3C.1, 2020 |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Hollow core fibre assisted ultra-low latency data interconnection |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Department | Optoelectronics Research Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | This collaboration investigates the use of hollow-core fibre in data centre interconnects in conjunction with analog signal processing technologies developed within this award. UCL researchers use the hollow core fibre in the data centre system prototype with the frequency comb developed within this award, achieving a record low latency, optically switched system. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC contributed hollow core fibre technologies, including 5km of HCF spliced to standard single mode fibre. |
| Impact | This collaboration has led to three publications, including one top-scored paper and an invited journal publication, in leading international conferences and top journals in the field of optical communications. |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Microsoft Research |
| Organisation | Microsoft Research |
| Department | Microsoft Research Cambridge |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Through meetings and technical report, we share our findings with the partner for them to have a better understanding the potential benefit of our technologies to their data centre networks. More specifically, we discussed the performance of our clock phase caching and optical frequency comb technologies with the partner. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Microsoft helps benchmark the performance of our frequency comb prototype in their data centre networks. They provide us feedback on the performance and technical requirements that help the development of our technologies for data centre applications. They also organise, host and fund an annual workshop and invite us to participate in the forum to exchange opinions with international academics to shape our research. |
| Impact | Clark, K. A., Cletheroe, D., Gerard, T., Haller, I., Jozwik, K., Shi, K., Liu, Z. (2020). Synchronous subnanosecond clock and data recovery for optically switched data centres using clock phase caching. Nature Electronics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41928-020-0423-y |
| Start Year | 2019 |
| Description | Multipoint-to-point data aggregation using a single receiver and frequency-multiplexed intensity-modulated ONUs |
| Organisation | Huawei Technologies |
| Department | Huawei Enterprise, Düsseldorf |
| Country | Germany |
| Sector | Private |
| PI Contribution | Using the comb and signal processing technology we developed within the award, demonstrate the first clock synchronised frequency division multiplexing passive optical networks (PON). |
| Collaborator Contribution | Assisted digital signal processing development, provide equipment and financial support. |
| Impact | One conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference (OFC) and one journal submission to top international peer-reviewed journal (currently under review). |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber |
| Organisation | Clemson University |
| Country | United States |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We lead the experimental research and develop the first silicon core fibre based frequency comb spanning over 30 nm in telecom C band. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC: Tapering and splicing silicon core fibre; Clemson University: Fabrication of silicon core fibre; Norweigian University: Design original silicon core fibre Huazhong University of Science and Technology: testing silicon core fibre in free space environment University of Bern: simulation and numerical analysis |
| Impact | One top-scored conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference entitled "Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber" |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber |
| Organisation | Huazhong University of Science and Technology |
| Country | China |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We lead the experimental research and develop the first silicon core fibre based frequency comb spanning over 30 nm in telecom C band. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC: Tapering and splicing silicon core fibre; Clemson University: Fabrication of silicon core fibre; Norweigian University: Design original silicon core fibre Huazhong University of Science and Technology: testing silicon core fibre in free space environment University of Bern: simulation and numerical analysis |
| Impact | One top-scored conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference entitled "Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber" |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber |
| Organisation | Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) |
| Department | Department of Physics |
| Country | Norway |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We lead the experimental research and develop the first silicon core fibre based frequency comb spanning over 30 nm in telecom C band. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC: Tapering and splicing silicon core fibre; Clemson University: Fabrication of silicon core fibre; Norweigian University: Design original silicon core fibre Huazhong University of Science and Technology: testing silicon core fibre in free space environment University of Bern: simulation and numerical analysis |
| Impact | One top-scored conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference entitled "Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber" |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber |
| Organisation | University of Bern |
| Department | Institute of Applied Physics |
| Country | Switzerland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We lead the experimental research and develop the first silicon core fibre based frequency comb spanning over 30 nm in telecom C band. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC: Tapering and splicing silicon core fibre; Clemson University: Fabrication of silicon core fibre; Norweigian University: Design original silicon core fibre Huazhong University of Science and Technology: testing silicon core fibre in free space environment University of Bern: simulation and numerical analysis |
| Impact | One top-scored conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference entitled "Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber" |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Description | Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber |
| Organisation | University of Southampton |
| Department | Optoelectronics Research Centre |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| PI Contribution | We lead the experimental research and develop the first silicon core fibre based frequency comb spanning over 30 nm in telecom C band. |
| Collaborator Contribution | ORC: Tapering and splicing silicon core fibre; Clemson University: Fabrication of silicon core fibre; Norweigian University: Design original silicon core fibre Huazhong University of Science and Technology: testing silicon core fibre in free space environment University of Bern: simulation and numerical analysis |
| Impact | One top-scored conference paper in Optical Fibre Communication Conference entitled "Parametric frequency comb generation using silicon core fiber" |
| Start Year | 2020 |
| Title | Injection locked multi-wavelength optical source |
| Description | The patent disclosure describes various examples of optical systems (e.g., optical transceivers) that include an optical transmitter having an injection locked multi-wavelength optical source. According to embodiments as described herein, the injection locked multi-wavelength optical source includes a first optical source configured to emit light having different wavelengths, a waveguide, and an optical coupler configured to couple the emitted light from the first optical source to the waveguide. The injection locked multi-wavelength optical source further includes an array of two or more second optical sources coupled to the waveguide. Each of the two or more second optical sources are configured to be injection locked to a different respective wavelength of the emitted light transmitted via the waveguide from the first optical source. In some implementations, the first optical source is a master comb laser and the two or more second optical sources are slave ring lasers of the injection locked multi-wavelength optical source. |
| IP Reference | USA or PCT App. No. 16/582907 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | |
| Licensed | Commercial In Confidence |
| Impact | Patent sold to Hewlett-Packard Enterprise as an IP for their super computing product. |
| Title | SIGNAL PROCESSOR APPARATUS |
| Description | The invention discloses an optical assisted signal processing apparatus that allows for significantly increased bandwidth and solution of analogue to digital conversion. |
| IP Reference | PCT/GB2021/050452 |
| Protection | Patent application published |
| Year Protection Granted | |
| Licensed | No |
| Impact | Currently we are negotiating with industry company for the further development of the patent. |
| Description | EPSRC connected nation pioneer competition |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | PhD student Kari Clark participated in the 2018 EPSRC Connected Nation Pioneer Award and won the 'overall winner' out of all the competitors in the UK. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | Initiate new collaboration with Verizon Ltd. |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
| Results and Impact | Initiate a new collaboration discussion with Verizon |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk in Advanced Photonics Congress 2020 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | about 40 international colleagues attend the PI's invited talk in the OSA advanced photonics congress, where the PI reported the latest resulted published by his group, sparking scientific discussion for future research direction and commercialisation opportunities. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Invited talk in IEEE Summer Topicals |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | more than 30 professionals attended this online international conference |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk in IEEE photonics conference (PIC2021) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 30 professionals and postgraduate students attended the talk |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
| Description | Invited talk in the Frontier in Optics conference (FiO/LS 2020) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other audiences |
| Results and Impact | About 30 professionals attended the on-line session in one of the major conferences, where I delivered the invited talk to introduce the new findings in this project. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
| Description | Low Latency Clock Recovery for Optically-switched Data Centres |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | participated in workshop during the top conference in computer science (SIGCOMM'19), discuss new concepts and opinion with international colleagues with more than 70 audience. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | OFC Tutorial : optical injection locking and its application in optical transceivers |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | OFC invited tutorial on optical injection locking, with more than 100 professionals attending the presentation. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | STEM for Britain 2018 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
| Results and Impact | PhD Student Kari Clark, whose research is partially supported by PhotoDAC, won the 'Bronze Medal' in the STEM for Britain 2018 event. Kari gave poster presentations to MPs at the parliament and explain the research to policy makers. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| Description | UCL all academic festival |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an open day or visit at my research institution |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
| Results and Impact | I participated in the UCL all academic festival where I organised laboratory open day and hosted five groups of general public to explain photonics, optical communications and the importance of ICT for everyday lives. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Using low thermal sensitivity hollow core fibre for optically-switched data centre applications |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | PhD student Kari Clark presented this top scored paper at the prestigious European Conference on Optical Communication (ECOC), Dublin in Sept 2019. Lidia woekshop was attended by 100+ attendees with excellent feedback received. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Visit and Seminar at Beijing Institute of Technology in China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I visited the Advanced Research Institute of Multidisciplinary Science and give a seminar on Low Latency Clock Recovery for Optically-switched Data Centres. The audience contains about 30 postgraduate students and academics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Visit and Seminar at Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | The PI visited the fibre device group at National Laboratory of Optoelectronics at the Huazhong University of Science and Technology in China ( http://english.wnlo.hust.edu.cn/), give a seminar on optical injection locking and their applications, with 20+ audience including postgraduate students and academics. I also discussed collaboration with the academics. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
| Description | Visit and Seminar at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | Local |
| Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
| Results and Impact | I visit the Photonic Institute at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore (http://tpi.ntu.edu.sg/aboutTPI/Pages/Our-People.aspx) and their centre director Prof. Perry Shum at Centre for Optical Fibre Technology (COFT). I give a seminar organised by IEEE photonic chapter in Singapore with about 20 audience (postgraduate students and academics). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |