Optica Incubator on Programmable Photonics

06 - 08 November 2024
Optica Global Headquarters, Washington, DC, USA

Hosts: 

• Wim Bogaerts, IMEC – Ghent University
• José Capmany, Universitat Politecnica de Valencia – iPronics
• David Miller, Stanford University

Program Overview

Photonic chip platforms are now reaching a maturity where they can be put to actual use. However, developing a new chip is still slow, costly, and error-prone. Programmable photonics can lower this threshold by providing a tool to prototype new functionality without the need to go through a costly chip design-fabrication-test cycle. This programmability combined with new architectures and algorithms opens novel application possibilities, including ones that self-configure in real time to changing inputs and requirements. This programmability can be a game changer for the adoption of photonics into new fields and for growing the user community beyond the small crowd with a PhD in photonics.

Scope and Goals

Through invited talks, panels, moderated discussion periods, and informal networking, this program will explore the key challenges of using programmable photonic chips (technological, performance, standardization, missing elements in the supply chain, cost, etc.) and identify actions to address them.

This incubator will first explore a wider scope of programmable photonics—complex photonic circuits with a high degree of tunability, containing hundreds or even thousands of optical tunable elements that adjust, modify, or redefine functionality. The wide classification also includes optical beamformers, optical communications, optical sensors, optical switch fabrics, several types of photonic neural network architectures, quantum processors, and accelerators for matrix-vector multiplications. These still face common challenges related to the large scale of the circuits, how to design and simulate them, and the photonic-electronic integration, calibration, configuration, and control algorithms. Depending on the applications, different approaches can be taken to address these.

In addition, this incubator will also explore programmable photonics in a narrower scope - circuits, like the ones mentioned above, that are deliberately designed to be generic, i.e., they have not been optimized for a specific application but can be used by innovators to prototype new applications. The narrow definition raises some additional questions, especially regarding performance specs. Can we already imagine which applications these ‘generic’ chips will be used for and how good their performance should be? Of course, they should be user-programmable, which means some form of development kit and a programming language suitable for photonics.

Meeting Schedule

The program, including breakfasts and lunches, will be held at Optica Global Headquarters, 2010 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC 20036. Dinners, which are also included in the registration fee, will be held at local restaurants. All times approximate, check back for a detailed agenda.

DAY 1 - 06 November 2024​

• Welcome dinner, location to be announced, at 18:00 EDT

DAY 2 - 07 November 2024

• Breakfast begins at 08:00 EDT at Optica Global Headquarters
• Program begins at 08:30 EDT, lunch is included onsite​
• Networking dinner, location to be announced, begins at 18:00 EDT

DAY 3 - 08 November 2024

• Breakfast begins at 08:00 EDT at Optica Global Headquarters
• Program begins at 08:30 EDT, lunch is included onsite​
• Adjourn at 14:00 EDT

Are you interested in attending?

A limited number of spots have been set aside at this invitation-only meeting for interested individuals to apply for. Please send a brief letter of interest along with a CV to the hosts at incubators@optica.org.

Additional Information

This page will provide you with information on receiving a letter of invitation if required for your visa, as well as additional logistical and area information.