Researchers at George Washington University and the University of California, Los Angeles, have developed and demonstrated for the first time a photonic digital-to-analog converter that operates entirely within the optical domain. These novel converters could advance next-generation data processing hardware, with significant implications for data centers, 6G networks, and artificial intelligence, among other applications. Today's optical networks, through which most of the world's data is transmitted, as well as many sensors, require a digital-to-analog conversion that synergistically links digital systems with analog components.
Using a silicon photonic chip platform, Volker J. Sorger, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at GW, and his colleagues have created a digital-to-analog converter that does not require the signal to be converted in the electrical domain, thus showing the potential to meet the demand for high data processing capabilities while acting on optical data, interfacing with digital systems, and operating in a compact space, with short signal delay and low power consumption.
"We've found a way to seamlessly bridge the gap between these two worlds, analog and digital," says Sorger. "This device is a key stepping stone to the next generation of data processing hardware.".
Read the study, “Electronic Bottleneck Suppression in Next-Generation Networks with Integrated Photonic Digital-to-Analog Converters,” here.
