Weight Adjustable Photonic Synapse by Nonlinear Gain in a Vertical Cavity Semiconductor Optical Amplifier


Abstract: "In this paper, we report a high-speed and tunable photonic synaptic element based on a vertical cavity semiconductor optical amplifier (VCSOA) operating with short (150 ps-long) and low-energy (μW peak power) light pulses. By exploiting nonlinear gain properties of VCSOAs when subject to external optical injection, our system permits full weight tunability of sub-ns input light p... » read more

Will Co-Packaged Optics Replace Pluggables?


As optical connections work their way deeper into the data center, a debate is underway. Is it better to use pluggable optical modules or to embed lasers deep into advanced packages? There are issues of convenience, power, and reliability driving the discussion, and an eventual winner isn’t clear yet. “The industry is definitely embracing co-packaged optics,” said James Pond, principal... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Apr. 10


Lithium-air battery Researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory designed a new lithium-air battery that works in a natural air environment and still functioned after 750 charge/discharge cycles, a record for this battery type. In theory, lithium-air batteries work by combining lithium present in the anode with oxygen from the air to produce lithium p... » read more

System Bits: July 25


The language of glove In a development that allows the gestures in American Sign Language to be decoded, University of California San Diego researchers have developed a smart glove that also has application in virtual and augmented reality to telesurgery, technical training and defense. [caption id="attachment_232228" align="alignnone" width="300"] "The Language of Glove": a smart glove that ... » read more

Power/Performance Bits: Oct. 18


Speeding up memory with T-rays Scientists at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT), the University of Regensburg in Germany, Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands, and Moscow Technological University proposed a way to improve the performance of memory through using T-waves, or terahertz radiation, as a means of resetting memory cells. This process is several thousand... » read more

Coming To A Fab Near You?


What do Quentin Tarantino and ASML have in common? Anamorphic lenses. The optical image created by an anamorphic lens is oval, rather than round, with different magnifications along the horizontal and vertical axes. Tarantino used 65mm anamorphic lenses to film The Hateful Eight, and some theaters are also using them to screen the movie. It’s the first fiction feature to use this format s... » read more

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