By Jeremy Hsu

Today’s Internet relies upon a backbone of photonics technology that uses light to transmit, store, process, and display all the digital information that ends up in front of your eyes. A new generation of photonic integrated circuits—which would be used in everything from smartphones to medical devices—could boost the speed of data transmission among and within these devices. And it’s predicted that these photonic circuits will shrink considerably, allowing the gadgets that contain them to get progressively smaller. That’s why the U.S. government has launched a new initiative that will award more than $100 million to spur the ramping up of domestic manufacturing of photonic integrated circuits.

The U.S. Department of Defense is heading the effort, which will disburse up to $110 million in federal funding via an Integrated Photonics Manufacturing Institute. The five-year commitment also requires matching funding of $110 million from private sources to cover its operational costs. Last Friday, President Obama announced that the new initiative would be the latest Institute for Manufacturing Innovation launched by his administration.The aim is to enable the creation of an end-to-end photonics “ecosystem” in the United States that covers every part of the manufacturing process.  …[Read more]