Membrane Photonic Devices for IOWN

Increasing power consumption in the data center has become a social issue. In order to reduce power consumption, the introduction of optical technology into the ultra-short range is highly desired. For this purpose, we are developing the membrane photonic devices, which are heterogeneously integrated with the Si photonic devices.

1. Introduction

NTT has proposed the concept of the Innovative Optical and Wireless Network (IOWN) as an unprecedented communication platform [1]. The aim is to achieve a network and information-processing platform featuring ultra large-capacity, ultralow-latency, and ultralow power consumption capabilities through innovative photonics technologies. Based on this concept, optical technologies should be used instead of electrical ones for ultra-short distance interconnection, as shown in Fig. 1 [2]. The key to achieving this is the development of low-power consumption photonic devices and the introduction of the optical technology into ultra-short distance data transmission. Reducing the cost of transmitter is also important because as the transmission distance decreases, the number of devices must increase exponentially.