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Fully integrated hybrid multimode-multiwavelength photonic processor with picosecond latency

Summary

Researchers created a tiny optical computer chip that processes data much faster than electronic computers. The chip uses different colors and patterns of light to handle multiple signals at once, mimicking how fiber optic cables can send information through different pathways simultaneously. It successfully unscrambled mixed-up signals in real-time and removed jamming interference from communication signals, all with a processing time of just 30 picoseconds—trillions of times faster than blinking.

Background

High-speed signal processing is critical for next-generation communication systems including MIMO networks and 6G architectures. Electronic digital signal processors face fundamental limitations in throughput and latency. Photonic processors offer advantages including broad bandwidth, low loss, massive parallelism, and ultralow latency, but face scalability challenges from integration and multiplexing limits.

Objective

To develop a scalable, monolithically integrated hybrid photonic processor that simultaneously leverages mode-division and wavelength-division multiplexing to overcome electronic processing bottlenecks. The processor aims to enable real-time optical signal processing with picosecond-level latency for MIMO and RF signal processing applications.

Results

The processor demonstrated real-time unscrambling of two spatial modes with bit error rates of 2.6 × 10⁻⁵ and 5.7 × 10⁻⁶, achieving processing latency of 30 picoseconds. RF signal unjamming via blind source separation showed Q-factor improvements from 3.7 to 6.0 for BPSK and 2.9 to 5.3 for QPSK, corresponding to BER reduction of five orders of magnitude without error correction.

Conclusion

The monolithically integrated hybrid MDM-WDM photonic processor successfully demonstrates scalable, energy-efficient signal processing with ultralow latency superior to electronic systems. The architecture enables practical applications in optical MIMO communications and RF interference cancellation, establishing a foundation for next-generation photonic processors for advanced signal processing and future wireless communication networks.
  • Published in:Nature Communications,
  • Study Type:Experimental Research,
  • Source: PMID: 41413380, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-66561-7
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