1 February 2019:

Photonics and radio signals join forces for high-speed mobile data communication, like in 5G communications. At the same time, the applications of ‘integrated microwave photonics’ go way beyond telecom. This progress often comes from directions you would not expect in the first place. University of Twente researcher David Marpaung (MESA+ Insitute), for example, works on a combination of light and sound waves, enabling him to design high-quality filters. In a review paper in Nature Photonics, he gives a vision on the next phase of photonic chips, for example in brain-inspired, ‘neuromorphic’ optical computing.