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What does the future hold for photonic integrated circuits (PICs) – and where can the UK assert itself within that?

The benefits of PICs are clear compared to traditional electronics: faster data speeds, superior bandwidth, along with lower power consumption and reduced heat generation. The use cases, from 5G and 6G networks, to data centres, to LiDAR systems and more, are vast. The global PICs market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 24% between now and 2035. CSA Catapult, in its ‘Unlocking the Future with Photonic Integrated Circuits: A Strategic Technology and Market Outlook’ report from earlier this year, noted the UK is ‘well-positioned’ to lead in PIC innovation.

The research and technology organisation notes how photonics is one of the most productive UK manufacturing industries – an assertion backed up by other industry bodies, not least the Photonics Leadership Group (PLG). “With its expertise in compound semiconductors, strong academic base, and innovation-led companies, the UK can expand its leadership by embedding PICs into national AI and quantum strategies, scaling up manufacturing, and developing specialist skills,” CSA Catapult noted.

As John Lincoln, chief executive at the PLG, puts it, PICs ‘are what integrated transistors were to valve-based electronics – a new paradigm.’ So, what are the challenges?

Packaging ‘plays a decisive role and is often overlooked in early design stages’, CSA Catapult notes. Get that decision wrong and you can introduce mechanical constraints, as well as impact system reliability, thermal management and integration efficiency. As the CSA Catapult report notes, strengthening integration and prototyping capabilities – expanding co-design, packaging and validation services to reduce adoption risk and accelerate innovation – will help the UK secure long-term leadership in PICs. Developing scalable packaging solutions will form a key part of this.

Lincoln notes intermediaries such as optical OSATs (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) are needed to package PICs, as well as noting the impact on the operational side. “Integration makes bootstrapping – using the proceeds of the first sale to fund the build of the next – almost impossible, necessitating new financial and investment models,” he says. “System builders, used to working with discrete lenses, lasers and the like, can’t seamlessly move to PICs any more than they would expect to handle a bare laser die.

“Integration will bring change,” Lincoln adds. “For those who bridge the gap or enable those gaps to be bridged, the world of opportunity awaits.”

One interesting aspect of the CSA Catapult report focused on PICs in quantum computing; the applications, advances, and industry landscape. Realising the benefits of quantum – optimising logistical and transport planning and scheduling in real-time, or transforming drug discovery by analysing vast combinations of compounds – requires scalable hardware, and this is where photonics comes in.

“Photonic processors are energy-efficient, operate at room temperature, and support high-fidelity quantum gate operations needed for error correction,” the report notes. “They are also naturally compatible with existing optical communication and data transmission systems, making integration into current infrastructure easier and providing both short- and long-term advantages.”

Plenty of innovation is taking place in this realm. The University of Bristol is well established here, while the University of Cambridge has an Integrated Quantum Photonics Group. The UK Integrated Quantum Networks (IQN) Hub brings together the UK’s academic leaders in quantum communications, photonic networks and information security.

A little further afield, however, this week saw a fascinating development. In Paris, Pasqal, a company developing neutral-atom quantum processors designed to scale towards industrial applications, announced what was, to its knowledge, a world-first: the trapping of individual atoms using laser light generated by a PIC. By moving qubit control onto a photonic chip, Pasqal CEO Wasiq Bokhari commented, the company believes is has removed one of the biggest barriers to scale.

This gives a flavour of the potential to come with PICs. What are the next steps? Lincoln notes that there must be ‘clear recognition of the importance of photonics to enabling growth across economy from government’. On a more practical level, there needs to be greater access to design and pilot fabrication facilities to support early adoption of integrated photonics, he adds.

“To capture more value domestically, the sector must scale production, strengthen system-level integration, and expand its skilled workforce,” CSA Catapult concludes. “With the proper support, photonics, and PICs in particular, can continue to drive growth, resilience and innovation across the UK economy.”

At Microelectronics UK, taking place at Excel, London on September 29-30, advances in compact photonic integration and the long-term impact of quantum computing on the microelectronics landscape will form just one part of the wide-ranging agenda. Take a look at the full agenda here.