Following the discovery, the team at the University of Tokyo went on to develop low-power optical modulators capable of converting electrical signals into optical signals efficiently at near-infrared wavelengths, typically used for optical fibre communications.
The optical modulator can be fabricated in existing semiconductor fabrication plants, enabling monolithic integration of low-power and large-scale photonic integrated circuits on large-scale integrated circuits.
This achievement is an important step towards realising not only low-power and high-performance IT systems but also one-chip supercomputers with on-chip optical interconnections.
The research was carried out by Associate Professor Mitsuru Takenaka's group at the University of Tokyo, Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Systems, in collaboration with Sumitomo Chemical Co.