Photonics, the use of light for applications traditionally addressed through electronics, enables significant new opportunities in a wide range of areas including telecommunications, laser-based radar, data communications, sensing, and many others. Integrated photonics dramatically improves the performance and reliability of electronic integrated circuits while significantly reducing size, weight, and power consumption.
Developing a widely-accepted set of processes and protocols for the design, manufacture, and integration of photonics systems will not only advance this technology, but also present the U.S. with great economic opportunity. The Yole Silicon Photonics 2020 Market and Technology Report predicted, “Silicon photonics continues to be a very active field of innovation across many industries, with a broad range of companies and R&D labs involved worldwide. As a result, the silicon photonics market is expected to grow from $480M in 2019 to $3.9B in 2025.” Integrated photonics is expected to advance established industries and enable new ones in the same way that semiconductors fostered the revolution in computing, telecommunications, and other fields over the past 40 years.