Photonics

A new Horizon Europe funded project was launched in October 2023. With a consortium of 11 partners from 8 different countries, the Next-2Digits project aims to develop the next generation of sensors and imagers enabled by 2D materials digital integration. Next-2Digits will run for 3 years and 3 months.

Coordinated by the National Technical University of Athens, Next-2Digits benefits from the presence of academic, research and industrial teams, whose areas of work span from graphene and 2D materials synthesis, characterization, manipulation, and integration, as well as in the fields of photonics, material science, application-based integration technologies and validation.

A team of researchers from The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (ICFO) and Barcelona-based startup Qurv Technologies have designed flexible, nearly transparent graphene-enhanced image sensors that could be hidden in plain sight.

The sensors, based on graphene and quantum dots, could be integrated directly onto eyeglasses or curved windshields, placed right in front of a user’s eyes. This could make eye-tracking hardware less bulky, improve the accuracy of gaze detection, and reduce computational complexity, says Frank Koppens, who co-led the research and co-founded Qurv in 2020.

Frontier IP Group has reportedly agreed to a new loan facility worth up to £1.5 million with portfolio company CamGraPhIC, that specializes in graphene photonics.

Aimed to advance CamGraPhIC’s growth in the high-speed optical communications space, the latest facility brings the total amount advanced by Frontier IP to the company to £2.2 million.

Graphene and graphene-like materials can host—at their edges—localized states whose properties can differ dramatically from those of bulk states. Three types of edge states have been established in these materials—zigzag, bearded, and armchair—named after their geometry. Now, researchers from Nankai University and Shanxi University used a graphene-like photonic crystal to demonstrate the possibility of a fourth edge, called twig, with exotic topological features. Their results may broaden the understanding of graphene edge states, as well as open new avenues for realization of robust edge localization and nontrivial topological phases based on Dirac-like materials.

The team explained that the main findings were that the twig edge is a generic type of honeycomb lattice (HCL) edge complementary to the armchair edge, formed by choosing the right primitive cell (rather than simple lattice cutting or Klein edge modification). In addition, the twig edge states form a complete flat band across the Brillouin zone with zero-energy degeneracy, characterized by nontrivial topological winding of the lattice Hamiltonian. The twig edge states can also be elongated or compactly localized at the boundary, manifesting both flat band and topological features. 

NTT Corporation and the National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) have jointly reported the realization of what they define as "the world's fastest zero-bias operation (220 GHz) of a graphene photodetector (PD)". The research conducted by NTT and NIMS has also, according to the statement, clarified the optical-to-electrical (O-E) conversion process in graphene for the first time.

Graphene is a promising photodetection material for enabling high-speed O-E conversion at wavelength ranges where existing semiconductor devices cannot operate, thanks to its high sensitivity and high-speed electrical response to a wide range of electromagnetic waves, from terahertz (THz) to ultraviolet (UV). However, until now, the demonstrated zero-bias operating speed has been limited to 70 GHz due to conventional device structure and measurement equipment. For this reason, the challenge for graphene PDs is to demonstrate 200-GHz operation speeds and clarify graphene's inherent properties, such the process of optical-to-electrical conversion.

GamGraPhic, a Cambridge University spin out developing graphene-based photonics technology, announced a raise of £813,475 (over USD$981,000) from Wealth Club clients through the Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS). Proceeds from the funding will be used to complete fabrication and testing of the demonstration devices.

This takes its total amount raised to £1.26 million, which has been raised through an equity funding round from existing and new investors led by Frontier IP and Wealth Club. A previous funding round, in September 2021, raised £1.6 million, valuing the company at £7.2 million.

A team of researchers from Stanford University, University of Washington, The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, University of Maryland and MIT have reported the design of an energy-efficient, silicon-based non-volatile switch that manipulates light through the use of a phase-change material and graphene heater.

Data centers are dedicated spaces for storing, processing and disseminating data, that enable various applications, from cloud computing to video streaming. In the process, they consume a large amount of energy; As the need for data use grows, so does the need to make data centers more energy-efficient.

CamGraPhIC recently raised £1.6 million through an equity funding round from existing and new investors.

The fundraising values University of Cambridge spin out CamGraPhIC at £5.6 million pre-money. It brings total funds raised by the Company to £3.4 million including the loan facility announced by the Group ןn July 2021.

Frontier IP Group subscribed to £842,810 of loan notes from portfolio company CamGraPhIC as part of a £1.5 million loan designed to help accelerate growth of CamGraPhIC, spun out of the University of Cambridge to develop graphene-based photonics for high-speed data and telecommunications.

CamGraphIC says it is currently working with partners to fabricate proof-of-concept sample devices.

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