The lasers currently have a short wavelength, but Imec is looking to change that
Researchers at Imec have found a way to grow lasers directly on silicon Imec's lasers use gallium arsenide, a material that doesn't naturally bond with silicon This breakthrough could lower costs and improve photonic chips for AI and telecom Silicon photonics uses light to transmit data instead of relying on electrical signals, but since silicon itself can't efficiently generate light, it requires lasers as a light source. Placing lasers onto chips has traditionally been a challenge as Silicon - a material commonly found in sand - is not suitable for making lasers, and the best laser materials, such as gallium arsenide (GaAs), do not naturally work with it. Existing methods require bonding these materials onto silicon, a process that's both costly and wasteful. Scientists at Belgium research center Imec, have come up with a solution to this problem which involves growing lasers directly on silicon. This discovery could lead to more affordable and scalable photonic devices, potentially transforming applications in data communication, machine learning, and AI. Short wavelengths Imec's approach, detailed in a paper published in Nature,…