Photonic integrated comb source
Data will grow tenfold by 2025 to 163 ZetaBytes. The rise in mobile video, video-on-demand, cloud and other bandwidth intensive services are putting strain on the optical communication networks that make up the internet. Laser technology is at the core of moving all of this data between users and datacentres. Data storage and processing innovations have outpaced transmission innovations leading to a data transmission bottleneck. Next generation laser technologies are needed to remove this bottleneck. Pilot Photonics has developed a disruptive laser technology that can displace the “single mode” lasers that have been used in this market for more than two decades. Our opportunity is to licence and sell our differentiated solutions into the $13BN laser market.
Known as Optical Combs, these new lasers offers the disruptive value proposition of reduced cost, footprint and power consumption, with a simultaneous increase in performance, and capacity. Pilot Photonics’ competitive advantage is its ability to generate optical combs using photonic integration. This state-of-the-art technique combines multiple optical functions on a single photonic chip, and is analogous to the development of microchips in the 1960s which combined multiple electronic functions on a single silicon chip. The use of photonic integration drives huge efficiencies in cost, footprint, power consumption and performance and Pilot Photonics has patent protection on the world’s smallest and most versatile optical comb source, making it suitable for use in long haul optical networks for the first time. This Phase 2 project will see the technology reach market acceptance. The project will enable Pilot Photonics to generate revenue of more than €50m from this product alone, within 5 years of the project start representing a >10% share of the $500m market segment. The company will create 26 new jobs, grow its portfolio of IP, and increase the competitiveness of the European Photonics industry.