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A new microwave photonic chip designed for ultrafast analogue electronic signal processing and computation utilising optics has been unveiled by a research team led by Professor Wang Cheng from the Department of Electrical Engineering (EE) at the City University of Hong Kong (CityUHK).
This innovation, recently published in the esteemed scientific journal Nature under the title “Integrated Lithium Niobate Microwave Photonic Processing Engine,” marks a significant leap forward in the realm of integrated microwave photonics (MWP) technology.
The chip, heralded for its capacity to operate at speeds 1,000 times faster than conventional electronic processors while consuming considerably less energy, boasts a multitude of applications spanning diverse domains including 5/6G wireless communication systems, high-resolution radar systems, artificial intelligence, computer vision, and image/video processing.
In their pursuit to address the burgeoning demands imposed by the rapid expansion of wireless networks, the Internet of Things (IoT), and cloud-based services, the research team embarked on the development of an MWP system that combines ultrafast electro-optic (EO) conversion with low-loss, multifunctional signal processing on a single integrated chip. This integration, previously unattained, represents a milestone achievement in the field.
The core technology underlying this breakthrough is an integrated MWP processing engine founded on a thin-film lithium niobate (LN) platform, renowned for its ability to execute multi-purpose processing and computation tasks of analogue signals with unprecedented efficiency and accuracy. Feng Hanke, a PhD student of EE and co-first author of the paper, emphasises the chip’s remarkable capabilities, citing its capacity for high-speed analogue computation with ultrabroad processing bandwidths of 67 GHz and superior computation accuracies.
The journey toward this technological marvel began several years ago with the team’s steadfast dedication to advancing the integrated LN photonic platform. Their earlier collaboration with colleagues at Harvard University and Nokia Bell Labs resulted in the development of CMOS-compatible integrated electro-optic modulators on the LN platform in 2018, laying the groundwork for subsequent breakthroughs. Often referred to as the “silicon of photonics,” LN has emerged as a cornerstone material in the field, analogous to silicon in microelectronics.
The significance of this work extends beyond its immediate applications, as it ushers in a new era in LN microwave photonics, ushering in microwave photonics chips characterised by compact sizes, high signal fidelity, and low latency. Moreover, it represents a monumental stride toward the realisation of chip-scale analogue electronic processing and computing engines, promising transformative implications across various technological domains.
The paper’s co-first authors, Feng Hanke and Ge Tong, alongside a diverse cohort of contributing authors including Dr Guo Xiaoqing, a PhD graduate of EE, Dr Chen Zhaoxi, Dr Zhang Ke, Dr Zhu Sha, Dr Sun Wenzhao, EE postdocs, Zhang Yiwen, an EE PhD student, and collaborators from The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), have collectively propelled this groundbreaking research forward.
Professor Wang Cheng, serving as the corresponding author, underscores the collaborative effort and interdisciplinary synergy that underpins this achievement, emphasising the pivotal role of collaboration in driving technological innovation forward. As the ripple effects of this breakthrough reverberate across the scientific community, the team remains steadfast in their commitment to pushing the boundaries of possibility, charting new frontiers in the realm of integrated microwave photonics.
