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Date Announced: 26 Mar 2024
AFR and HyperLight Co-Host Thin Film Lithium Niobate Forum at OFC
March 25, 2024 – AFR and HyperLight joined forces on March 25, 2024, to organize the highly anticipated forum, "Technologies and Applications of Thin Film Lithium Niobate Photonics," held at the San Diego Convention Center.
The event successfully brought together leading experts from academia and industry, facilitating the exchange of the latest advances and challenges in the field of Thin Film Lithium Niobate (TFLN). Distinguished speakers included Dr. Vladimir Kozlov from LightCounting, Marko Lončar from Harvard University, and top executives from renowned global industry players such as AFR, HyperLight, NanoLN, FOC, Ori-Chip, Liobate, Hisense, Linktel, and more. The forum featured cutting-edge technological presentations, engaging panel discussions, creating an enthusiastic atmosphere for deliberation that captivated the participation and attention of nearly a hundred professionals from diverse sectors.
Why TFLN?
The relentless expansion of data traffic in fiber-optic communication networks, driven by emerging applications like artificial intelligence (AI) and big data, has become a catalyst for innovation. The increasing demand for high-speed optical devices capable of handling the growing workload necessitates a closer look at TFLN.
Compared to other optoelectronic materials such as indium phosphide, silicon photonics, and traditional lithium niobate, TFLN stands out for its ability to achieve an ultra-fast modulation speed and support high integration. It boasts outstanding features, including ultra-high bandwidth, low power consumption, low loss, and a compact size, enabling wafer-scale large-volume manufacturing. This positions it as the ideal material for electro-optic modulators.
The TFLN technology finds huge potential in coherent applications for long-haul, metro and DCI networks, as well as PAM-4 applications in data centers and AI clusters. New products have been developed and released, such as the 130GBaud CDM (Coherent Driver Modulator) and 800Gbps PAM-4 by AFR, and also demonstrated in PAM-4 transceivers by HyperLight, Eoptolink and Arista. The benefits brought by TFLN technology are enormous, especially in terms of bandwidth and power consumption.
Emergence of a Mature, Comprehensive, and Reliable TFLN Supply Chain
The optimistic outlook within the TFLN industry is attracting numerous technology companies, leading to the swift evolution of a comprehensive ecosystem. It is encouraging to note that an increasing number of technology enterprises and startups worldwide are converging onto this track, shaping the future of the industry collectively, covering materials, wafers, chips, modulators, and optical modules.
In the panel discussion, representatives from key players of the supply chain, including NanoLN in wafer manufacturing, AFR, HyperLight, Liobate, Ori-Chip, and FOC in chip production, Hisense and Linktel in transceivers, exchanged opinions about the prospect of TFLN, technology breakthroughs, and how to make it more ready for near future large volume applications.
As we observe together, the TFLN supply chain is steadily maturing, becoming more comprehensive and reliable over time. The growth and integration of each component signify a promising future for TFLN technology, establishing it as a pivotal player in the global technological landscape.
E-mail: sales@fiber-resources.com
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