UK laser developer wins £1m project to commercialise PCSELs

Glasgow-based laser developer Vector Photonics has announced it has won a £1m industrial research project called ZEUS, The project aims to commercialize its 1W, 1310nm all-semiconductor photonic crystal surface emitting lasers (PCSELs) for artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

According to the company, the AI PCSEL will significantly improve the processing capabilities of computers to overcome the data transfer bottlenecks faced by current AI solutions. At 1W, the PCSEL will be at least 10 times more powerful than existing distributed feedback lasers (DFBS), which currently operate at a maximum power of 100mW.

As DFBS approach their practical limits, PCSEL is emerging as a major contender for next-generation AI data transfer. The company is developing PCSEL products to provide up to 20 data channels per AI chip.

(Photo credit: Vector Photonics)

According to Dr. Richard Taylor, Chief Technology Officer of Vector Photonics, ZEUS is a 24-month project covering the design, simulation, fabrication and testing of a 1W AI PCSEL. The full impact of the 1W PCSEL on AI chip design has yet to be quantified as the entire architecture of chips and systems will change, but there is no doubt that it brings a number of manufacturing and energy saving benefits: reduced power consumption, heat and latency; The symmetrical far-field of PCSEL requires less working power to achieve the same performance, which means that its power will be further reduced. The number of lasers per chip is greatly reduced, making manufacturing simpler and chips smaller, increasing production efficiency and reliability.

The Zeus project will further commercialize Vector Photonics' existing PCsels for data communications, It is a £700,000 partnership funded by Innovate UK and £300,000 by the UK Innovation & Science Seed fund.

Vector Photonics is a spectral instrument product manufacturer that was spun out of the University of Glasgow in the UK in 2020. Vector Photonics manufactures III-V semiconductor lasers based on PCSEL technology. Its primary target is the data communications market, where its lasers are said to significantly reduce power consumption for next-generation data center and co-positioning optical applications, improving semiconductor laser manufacturing and performance across the board. In the future, its PCSEL technology will also enable significant performance improvements in metal and plastic 3D printing, LiDAR/light detection and ranging (LiDAR), and optical sensing.

In February, Vector Photonics announced a round of equity investment in excess of ￡2.4 million to further commercialize its unique all-semiconductor photonic crystal surface emitting laser (PCSEL) technology, based on growing demand and growth in its business.

Photonic crystal surface-emitting laser (PCSEL) technology has the advantages of low cost, high intensity, wide wavelength range and high power, which is beneficial to reduce power consumption, delay, size and cost of physical connection, and is expected to revolutionize the manufacturing and performance of semiconductor lasers. This combination of key characteristics gives them a huge advantage over currently commonly used VCSELs (vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers) and EEL lasers (edge-emitting lasers). In addition, PCSEL lasers are easy to package and integrate into PCBS and electronic components.

Advantages and disadvantages of PCSELs compared with similar lasers (image credit: Vector Photonics)

Source: OFweek