From Solar To Photonics
Perovskites are a new type of material increasingly investigated for its potential in solar energy. Semiconductor crystals could be even more powerful at converting light into electricity than traditional silicon-based solar panels.
Source: iRocks
This is one possible way to improve solar panel technology, which we discussed in “The Solar Age—A Bright Future To Mankind.” It now appears that perovskites could possibly compete with silicon in another field: computing.
As traditional silicon processors become smaller and smaller, the industry is looking for ways to perform computation differently. One such considered method is photonics, where light instead of electricity is the carrier of data for performing the computation. This way, the calculation can be done at the speed of light, reducing the need for as many transistors as in traditional electronic calculation.
To do so, the proposed method to build photonics computing systems includes laser-based nanoscale manipulation of silicon and better light-to-sound conversion systems.
Most photonic technology has been initially focused on silicon-based solutions, as this is by far the material the best understood by the chip-making industry.
Still, it would make sense that perovskites, a material known for its ability to handle light and electricity at the same time, would make a great basis for photonic computing.
Shaping Perovskite Crystals At Will
This was the reasoning followed by researchers at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw in collaboration with other institutions from Poland, Italy, Iceland, and Australia. To pave the way for more progress on perovskite-based photonics, they created a way to “cut” perovskite crystals precisely. They detailed their method in an article titled “Predesigned perovskite crystal waveguides for room-temperature exciton–polariton condensation and edge lasing”.
The material they used is a type of perovskite called CsPbBr3 (cesium-lead-bromide). It has great potential for optical application, thanks to the low energy required for nonlinear light amplification. This means that this material can amplify and modulate light with very little energy consumption, one of the key advantages of photonics over electronics.
Their method managed to create CsPbBr3 crystals into any shape with simple corners to smooth curves. Something normally very hard to achieve in crystallography.
In addition, these crystals can be produced on any substrate, making them compatible with preexisting photonic devices. So, while innovative, they do not require the development of an entirely new field of photonics technology to become useful.
How They Did It
Many of the methods used by the researchers to grow the perovskite crystals are derivative of methods known to the semiconductor industry. For example, they use tightly controlled solution concentration and growth temperatures while maintaining an atmosphere of saturated solvent vapors.
They then used nearly atomically smooth gallium arsenide templates made using electron-beam lithography and plasma etching. Gallium arsenide is a well-known material, notably used in LED light production.
Using a microfluidic approach, they managed to grow the crystal in narrow polymer molds that can be imprinted with any shape from a template.
What Can Photonic Perovskites Do?
Power Control Over Light
The crystals also demonstrated strong nonlinear optical effects. Nonlinear optics allows us to change the color and shape of a light beam in space and time and create the shortest events ever made by humans—all phenomena that are very useful for photonic computation.
Quantum Effects
The light emitted by the perovskite crystal is produced by a very special state of matter called a Bose-Einstein condensate.
Source: UCSB Physics Department
This 5th state of matter (besides solid, gas liquid, and plasma) is where many atoms can act as a wave instead of ordinary matter. In that respect, this makes multiple atoms act like normally only sub-atomic particles can, making quantum effects visible at an almost macroscopic scale.
This state of the perovskite crystals created an exciton–polariton condensate, a specific sub-type of Bose-Einstein condensate.
So, the observed non-linear effects are likely linked to interactions within the condensate.
Thanks to the unique properties of perovskite structures, the condensate can travel long distances within the crystals, and the emitted light can propagate through air gaps to neighboring structures.
Dr. Helgi Sigurðsson – Faculty of Physics University of Warsaw
Being able to create and manipulate at will these Bose-Einstein condensate gives scientists the possibility to emit and scatter light in a very precise way.
This will be really useful for developing reliable and high-performance photonic chips.
Simulations For Better Prediction
The research paper also explains how, thanks to complex calculations, they were able to create a simulation of complex shape 3D structures, and their impact on photonic modes and show how their image forms.
“The discovery allows for their use in compact “on-chip” systems that can handle both classical and quantum computing tasks.
We predict that our discoveries will open the door to future devices that can operate at the level of single photons, integrating nanolasers with waveguides and other elements on a single chip.”
Prof. Michał Matuszewski – Center for Theoretical Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences
So, future work will be able to predict optical effects that are useful for photonics and data transmission without electrical signals.
Future Applications
Photonic-Quantum Computer
One key advantage of using these discoveries on perovskites is that these crystals can be used at room temperature.
This is very important, as normally, the effects from Bose-Einstein condensates are only observable at temperatures barely above the absolute zero. Which obviously makes them a lot less practical and useful for any “normal” computing.
This could also blend the border between quantum computing and photonics, with maybe future computer systems using both at the same time.
This includes very advanced concepts like nonlinear photonics as waveguides, couplers, splitters, and modulators.
Silicon-Perovskites Computing
Another quality of these new fine-tuned perovskite crystals is their compatibility with silicon and gallium-arsenide substrates. So they can be combined easily with existing silicon and other material semiconductor technologies.
This could reduce by a lot the gap between the current computing tech and the adoption of photonics, with photonics first to be developed & adopted for limited applications, instead of needing an entirely new type of parallel technological set first.
Investing In Perovskite & Photonics
Thanks to pre-existing applications in solar and computing, perovskites and photonics can already be invested, even if they are very much at the edge of material sciences and computing innovation.
You can invest in photonics companies through many brokers, and you can find here, on securities.io, our recommendations for the best brokers in the USA, Canada, Australia, and the UK, as well as many other countries.
If you are not interested in picking specific photonics companies, you can also look into ETFs like Global X Cloud Computing ETF (CLOU), Defiance Quantum ETF (QTUM), or ProShares Nanotechnology ETF (TINY) which will provide a more diversified exposure to capitalize on the photonics industry.
You can also read our article about the “Top 10 Non-Silicon Computing Companies”.
Photonics Companies
1. JABIL
At the end of 2023, Intel decided to divest its photonics business to semiconductor manufacturing Jabil (JBL).
More precisely, it acquired Intel’s silicon photonics transceiver technology, which can bridge the gap between optical signals and electronic signals on silicon.
Source: TrendForce
“Intel’s modules are used to connect Ethernet switches in large data centers, but as demand for bandwidth increases the firm expects silicon photonics co-packaged with switch ASICs to provide the bandwidth density necessary to scale future data center networks.
Jabil is extremely well positioned to support customers as they incorporate innovative technologies into their data centers to navigate the increasing requirements around power and cooling being driven by artificial intelligence.”
Matt Crowley, Jabil’s senior VP of cloud and enterprise infrastructure
This brought extra IP to the company’s photonic department, which is already commercializing photonic-based technologies:
- Fiber attaching solutions: active alignment, passive alignment, single fiber, fiber array.
- Assembly solutions: pick-and-place, die bond, wire bond, flip chip, reflow.
- Epoxy Application and Management: selection, characterization, dispensing.
- Encapsulation solutions: gold box, dam-and-fill, glob-top.
- Free-space optics: Lenses/lens arrays, beam shapers, splitters, diffusers, waveguides.
Jabil has a diversified business, with multi-billion revenues from auto manufacturers, healthcare & packaging, industrial companies, 5G wireless, etc. For a total of $27.5B of revenues in 2024.
The company could benefit greatly from better photonic technology, considering its pre-existing role in producing splitters, shapers, etc. for light arrays.
The Intel IP could also help bridge the gap between silicon and light emitted by perovskite crystals.
As the interconnection of chips demand is growing for AI applications, this could be photonics’ first big breakthrough, with a role in interfacing (still) silicon-based computing with photonics-based optical networking.
2. II-VI Marlow / Coherent
Coherent is a large industrial conglomerate with 26,000+ employees and a leader in laser technology, resulting from the merger of advanced material II-VI Marlow with laser maker Coherent.
The company is an expert in advanced materials used in lasers, optics, and photonics, such as indium phosphide, epitaxial wafers, and gallium arsenide.
It grew largely thanks to multiple acquisitions over the last decade.
Source: Coherent
The company derives 29% of its revenues from laser, with the rest linked to associated equipment like optical fiber, electronics, and instrumentation.
Source: Coherent
The presence of the company in advanced materials like thermophotovoltaics (which we discussed in a previous article), silicon carbide, lasers, and electronics helps it benefit from structural trends like the growth of precision manufacturing, additive manufacturing (3D printing), electrification, and renewables energies.
The company has recently separated its silicon carbide business into a new entity, owned at 75% by Coherent, with the rest owned equally by its partners Mitsubishi Electric (bringing silicon carbide power IP) and Denso (bringing its activity as an automotive supplier on electrification and power semiconductors).