Stream 7: Data Centres, Free Space Optics and Quantum Communications
Fast Reconfigurable Optical Circuit Switches for Scale-Out and Scale-Up AI Networking
Dr. Ana Gonzalez, VP iPronics, iPronics Programmable Photonics
AI and data megatrends drive explosive compute growth, overwhelming copper-based scale-up networks and rigid scale-out designs. This presentation examines silicon photonics-based optical circuit switching (OCS) for AI clusters. OCS enables fast reconfiguration for fault tolerance through dynamic topologies, boosts inference efficiency via disaggregated architectures, and accelerates training by adapting to real-time workloads. Key scale-up and scale-out networking architectures are discussed, highlighting OCS advantages in bandwidth, latency, and flexibility.
How Optical Wireless Fills GNSS and radio positioning Gaps
Iman Tavakkolnia Assistant Professor University of Cambridge and deputy director of LiFi Research and Development Centre
Most people spend around 90% of their time indoors, yet current location-based services, e.g., the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), are optimised for outdoor use and perform poorly inside buildings. This gap limits critical applications in emergency response, healthcare, robotics, and Industry 4.0, where centimetre-level accuracy is essential. While WiFi, Bluetooth, ultra-wideband, 5G, and RFID have attempted to address this, they often fall short in precision and require frequent calibration. Optical Wireless Positioning (OWP) offers a promising alternative, enabling highly accurate, inexpensive, and energy efficient localisation indoors, and, when integrated with radio-based systems, ensuring continuous navigation between indoor and outdoor environments. OWP also differs from LiDAR and camera-based services, which compromise cost and privacy. This talk presents recent advances and experimental demonstrations of AI-based, precise, and secure OWP from our research at Cambridge, discusses its potential to transform smart environments, and highlights open challenges. The aim is to spark discussion and inspire new ideas for the next generation of positioning, sensing, and communication systems.
Chip-based quantum key distribution for large scale deployment
Rob Starkwood, KETS Quantum Security
Quantum key distribution will transform the existing digital security, by establishing networks that are intrinsically secure against quantum computers. Current barriers to adoption of quantum key distribution systems include their costs and form factors. QKD systems based on optical fibres are expensive, bulky, hard to assemble, and therefore not scalable. At KETS we have developed chip-based commercial quantum key distribution systems which open the way to truly scalable quantum key distribution solution. All the core quantum photonic components used to generate, distribute and detect quantum signals have been implemented onto photonic integrated circuits, and manufactured in commercial photonic foundries. Our solution includes Silicon-on-Insulator transmitter chips, and optically self-contained quantum random number generators. As our most recent breakthrough, our receiver chips have been co-integrated with single-photon avalanche detectors, in a highly compact solution, solving the last remaining hurdle towards the miniaturization and large-scale deployment of discrete-variable quantum key distribution systems.
A UK Entangled Photon Source to Deliver the Quantum Internet
Michele Natrella is Head of Research & Development, Lumino Technologies Ltd
The quantum internet on its implementation will represent a paradigm shift of information networks enabled by the distribution of entanglement across disparate nodes. Quantum information networks will usher in an era of unbreakable encryption, highly synchronised atomic clocks and interconnected quantum computers. A key building block for realising the quantum internet are sources which can distribute entangled photon pairs with high pair rates and high fidelity. This work showcases the development of such a source based on spontaneous parametric downconversion using a type-0 ppKTP non-linear crystal in a Sagnac interferometer to produce non-degenerate pairs of polarisation-entangled photons in the 800 nm spectral band. A UK-based consortium led by Lumino Technologies has translated the source design from an optical breadboard to a prototype of suitable fit and form for free-space deployment in appropriate environments, for example on a satellite payload or a mobile platform.