The Aussie Chip Innovation That’s ‘Light Years Ahead’

Researchers at Monash University, RMIT and the University of Adelaide have developed a new method of cutting through the wanted and unwanted information while being downloaded, effectively increasing the accuracy and speed of a download. The team calls it the ‘fractional delay method’.
Research on this topic began in 2020, with the development of a chip that could transfer 30 terabits of data per second. This new research, however, is being described as “light years ahead” by Monash University, building on the study and improving its ability to use light particles to transmit data.
Technically, this innovation is described as “an accurate method of controlling optical circuits on fingernail-sized photonic integrated circuits”, but what that actually means is that the accuracy and data shedding during data transfer on optical circuits has been greatly improved.
“We’ve added a common reference path to the chip, which enables stable and accurate measurements of the lengths (phases, time delays) and losses of the ‘workhorse’ paths,” Monash University research fellow Professor Mike Xu said.
“By inventing a new method, the fractional delay method, we have been able to separate out the wanted information from the unwanted making for more precise applications.”
Data transfer chips commonly encounter phase errors during operation. However, because the researchers have put a common reference path on this new chip, the new method is ‘immune’ to phase errors.
“This means that we can get reliable measurements of the chip’s status, so are able to accurately program it for a desired application, such as pattern recognition in an optical computer, or squeezing extra capacity from an optical communications network,” added Xu.
The research team is working with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Optical Microcombs and Breakthrough Science (which was newly announced this year) for the next phase of the study, which will explore how different wavelengths can influence faster processing and machine learning.
You can read more about the fractional delay method on the Monash University website or in Optica.

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