Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are emerging as a transformative technology for computation and data transmission, offering enhanced scalability and efficiency over traditional electronic circuits. These PICs are particularly vital for next-generation data centers grappling with the exponential surge in data demands driven by advancements in artificial intelligence, 5G, and high-performance computing which are straining current copper interconnects and energy consumption. Optical interconnects, particularly co-packaged optics (CPO), are viewed as a solution, integrating electronic and photonic components to boost bandwidth density and reduce power usage. Ansys, a company with existing electronic and semiconductor design tools, is expanding its capabilities to better integrate with photonic simulation, aiming to streamline CPO system design.
Furthermore, the article highlights the growing importance of system miniaturization and the role of metalenses or metasurfaces. These nanopatterned, flat lenses can combine functionalities and overcome limitations of traditional lens curvature, attracting interest from companies like Lumotive, which is developing liquid-crystal metasurfaces for LiDAR applications.
Optical design software development is also concentrating on improving user experience and efficiency. Ansys is reportedly leveraging GPUs and cloud computing to accelerate simulations, citing examples of up to 60x reduction in simulation time using GPUs versus standard CPUs. The need to bridge the gap between idealized models and real-world optical devices is also addressed. Ansys emphasizes design for manufacturing, introducing features like “composite surface” to account for fabrication variations and surface imperfections. They are also incorporating the impact of external factors such as vibrations and temperature through integration with tools like Ansys Mechanical and OpticStudio, enabling simulation of real-world scenarios like gravitational effects on satellite optical components. The future of optical design software development, according to the article, is driven by customer feedback and anticipating future industry needs to facilitate the creation of next-generation optical products.
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