PINC’s NanoPPLN platform integrates periodically poled lithium niobate waveguides into silicon‑compatible photonic chips, providing a compact, scalable source of strong second‑order optical nonlinearity. This enables on‑chip frequency conversion, parametric amplification, mode‑locked lasers, and quantum light generation, allowing photonic integrated circuits to deliver high‑performance sensing, data‑center communications, and AI‑accelerated computing without bulky external crystals.
Funding
Funding not disclosed
5OFounders
Product
Problem
Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) lack a compact, scalable source of optical nonlinearity comparable to the transistor in electronics, limiting their ability to perform high‑efficiency frequency conversion, ultrafast modulation, and quantum light generation on a chip.
Solution
PINC’s NanoPPLN platform delivers a scalable nonlinear optical medium by integrating periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) waveguides directly into silicon‑compatible photonic chips. The platform leverages dispersion‑engineered nanophotonic waveguides to achieve strong second‑order (χ²) interactions, enabling efficient optical parametric amplification, second‑harmonic generation, and spontaneous parametric down‑conversion within a compact footprint. By providing low‑threshold optical parametric oscillators, mode‑locked laser sources, and ultrafast all‑optical switching, the technology unlocks new capabilities for optical sensing, quantum photonics, AI accelerators, and high‑capacity data networks. These functions are delivered as fully integrated building blocks that can be combined into larger photonic systems without the need for bulky external nonlinear crystals.
Target Audience
Primary customers are semiconductor photonics foundries, telecom and data‑center equipment manufacturers, quantum‑technology developers, and AI‑hardware companies seeking integrated nonlinear optical functions for sensing, communication, and computing.
Features
- Periodically poled lithium niobate (PPLN) nanophotonic waveguides with engineered dispersion for high χ² efficiency
- Integrated optical parametric amplification (OPA) and second‑harmonic generation (SHG) with low pump power requirements
- On‑chip optical parametric oscillators (OPO) delivering multi‑octave frequency combs and tunable infrared sources
- Nanophotonic mode‑locked laser sources producing picosecond pulses directly on the chip
- Integrated spontaneous parametric down‑conversion (SPDC) sources for broadband biphoton generation in the 2 µm band
- Femtojoule‑level all‑optical switching and ultrafast ReLU functions for photonic neural‑network implementations
- Compatibility with standard silicon photonics fabrication processes for scalable manufacturing