Research: Evaluating Photonic Integrated Circuit Architectures for High-Speed Optical I...

Research question: How do different photonic integrated circuit architectures impact the bandwidth, energy efficiency, and scalability of high-speed optical interconnects for data center applications?

Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are emerging as pivotal components in high-speed optical interconnects, offering significant advantages in bandwidth and power efficiency compared to traditional electronic links. As data centers face exponential growth in traffic, the need for scalable and efficient communication links is critical.

Despite considerable progress, there is limited comparative research evaluating the performance trade-offs among various PIC architectures—such as silicon photonics, indium phosphide, and hybrid integration—for optical interconnects in real-world data center scenarios. This gap hampers informed design choices for next-generation optical communication systems.

This project will conduct a systematic literature review, followed by simulation-based experimental evaluation of different PIC architectures. The study will analyze bandwidth, energy consumption, and scalability using industry-standard modeling tools and published datasets. The outcome will clarify which architectural features deliver optimal performance for data center interconnects, providing actionable guidance for future hardware development.

The findings will inform researchers and engineers designing future optical interconnects, potentially accelerating the adoption of photonic solutions to meet the demands of large-scale computing infrastructure.