The Role of Opto-Electronic Co-Integration for 6G Systems and Networks

Although we don’t know exactly how 6G networks will look like beyond 2030, we may assume that we will most likely communicate using holograms, digital twins, and that the merge of real and virtual reality had happen in an hyper-reality internet. Such new ways of communications will demand large capacity and ultra-low latency with increased demands for quantum safe data transmission and storage. Developing such technologies such as Terahertz frequency, terabit data wireless links, seems a futuristic endeavor. This paper considers the role of photonics in tackling the challenge to realize systems to generate, detect, multiplex and process terabit volumes of data in 6G systems and networks.