Kolibri – Ultra-Small Plasmonic Modulators for Terabit Communications

Project Information

Kolibri

Grant agreement ID: 875905

DOI

10.3030/875905

Project closed

EC signature date 26 July 2019

Start date 1 August 2019

End date 31 January 2020

Funded under

• INDUSTRIAL LEADERSHIP - Innovation In SMEs

Total cost

€ 71 429,00

EU contribution

€ 50 000,00

Coordinated by

POLARITON TECHNOLOGIES AG
Switzerland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Kolibri (Kolibri – Ultra-Small Plasmonic Modulators for Terabit Communications)

Reporting period: 2019-08-01 to 2020-01-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Polariton Technologies Ltd.'s objective is to deliver the world's fastest and smallest modulators, overcoming the current limitations in telecommunications and sensing applications. In particular, we address the transport bottleneck due to faster evolution in electronic signal generation than in fiber optical transport capability. Modulators that are key components in today’s communication infrastructure perform the conversion from an electrical signal to an optical signal. Today’s electro-optic modulators cannot deliver the speed required for future high-speed telecommunications; they are too large in footprint and hence expensive in fabrication, and energy inefficient. All of this is caused by the photonic nature of current electro-optic modulators. Through recent advances in our endeavor, we could demonstrate plasmonic modulators that are 10 times faster and 100 times smaller than current devices. Further, our devices are extremely energy efficient, thus reducing the carbon footprint for future telecommunication systems. Coming out of ETH Zurich, Switzerland, Polariton Technologies Ltd. is a newly incorporated start-up.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Our preliminary results and the echo from our partners make us confident that we are on the right way for closing the gaps with respect to our objectives. We are currently on the way to prepare the first pilots. The EU funding accelerated market entry by supporting to solve the remaining technical and business related challenges that are relevant to the industry.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Polariton Technologies Ltd. is about to deliver the world’s fastest and smallest, most energy efficient, electro-optical modulators to overcome the high-speed data communication bottlenecks. Due to their small size, easiness of production with standardized processes and energy efficiency they are unique candidates to solve the main connectivity problems of the Internet. Natural applications for data communications are optical fibre connections for smart cities and long-haul telecommunication links, 5G mobile backhauling and smart antennas, intra- and inter-satellite space transponders, free-space point-to-point and point-to-multipoint mission critical delivery networks and phased array antennas for radar, lidar and other geo-sensitive needs, including meteorology, and ground-to-air applications. Our devices will also cover the datacentre’s needs of seamless storage for the public and private industry as well as the supercomputing needs for analytics, and simulations in the most advanced industries including finance, aerospace, biotechnology and the medical sectors.

Pasmonic Modulator Chip