Today’s internet cables are made of glass, but the next generation may be made of a crystalline material called perovskite—if researchers can pull it into a fibre. The problem is that most semiconductor photonics, which process and transmit data using light, rely on bulky crystals or flat silicon chips. Neither integrates easily with the optical fibres that form the backbone of global communications. This project aims to create a single-mode optical fibre from lead-free perovskite, a material with far stronger nonlinear optical responses than silicon—meaning it can manipulate light with much less power and access quantum-level processes. If successful, the new fibre platform would work with existing telecom infrastructure while enabling devices that require orders of magnitude less energy to operate. That could dramatically improve the speed, capacity, and efficiency of data networks. It would also open the door to second-order nonlinear processes essential for quantum computing and quantum communication, where generating and controlling individual photons is critical. The research is fundamental in nature, but its convergence of fibre optics, perovskites, and semiconductor photonics could radically alter what optical fibres can do.
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Semiconductor photonics is at the forefront of a revolution in modern optoelectronics and is driving innovation in key technologies such as telecommunication, sensing and quantum. At its core is nonlinear semiconductor photonics which harnesses the strong instantaneous nonlinear optical responses that the materials afford. This functionality can be leveraged to process and transmit data, presenting the opportunity to significantly enhance the speed, capacity, and energy efficiency of next-generation optoelectronic systems. Furthermore, semiconductors can have a second-order nonlinear response which plays a crucial role in emerging technologies like quantum computing and quantum communication, where the controlled generation and manipulation of photons is essential. The significant majority of important applications of semiconductor photonics have been demonstrated in bulk noncentrosymmetric crystals or planar silicon waveguide platforms, which is problematic for their integration with the backbone of the information age, the optical fibre. This multidisciplinary and collaborative project sets a new agenda by engineering the convergence of three important research themes, optical fibres, perovskites, and semiconductor photonics. Unlike silicon, perovskites have a highly tunable crystal structure, making them very interesting for photonics. They can be direct bandgap, can contain a second-order nonlinearity many times higher than the state-of-the-art and can possess an extraordinary third-order-optical nonlinearity that is orders of magnitude greater than silicon. Furthermore, unlike more traditional semiconductors, the materials can maintain these properties when designed to have a wide bandgap, which is important for optical transparency and avoiding two-photon absorption. By establishing a single-mode, lead-free, perovskite fibre platform a new generation of semiconductor nonlinear photonic devices will be enabled. Devices will be demonstrated that require orders of magnitude less power to operate, that can access important second-order nonlinear processes, and that are immediately compatible with existing optical fibre infrastructures and architecture. This new class of optical fibre for nonlinear optics, quantum optics and telecommunications is anticipated to radically alter the functionality of optical fibre technologies.
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