The Cabinet-level National Science and Technology Council unveiled a new laser light source technology with ultra-high speed and low-energy consumption June 25 in Taipei City, highlighting government commitment to advancing next-generation artificial intelligence high-speed data links and expanding optical channels’ bandwidths.
With support from the NSTC, a research team led by Shi Jin-wei, professor at the National Central University Department of Electrical Engineering, successfully developed a novel vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), whose core technology lies in a new zinc diffusion light-emitting aperture shape. After combining the laser element with single-mode optical fiber, it achieves a world record in direct modulation bandwidth (40 GHz) at 850 nm wavelength and a distance×data rate product of 1 km×56 Gbps without using any signal processing integrated circuits.
According to the council, the research results were presented at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference in 2024, and complete technical content was also published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics in 2025.
Technology revolution like AI in the form of ChatGPT and other apps, makes it crucial to move huge amounts of data between graphic processing units and their peripheral switch chips and different data centers at high speed, the NSTC said. It added that laser light sources combined with optical fiber can replace bulky and high-loss radio frequency cable and can significantly reduce the power consumption of AI cabinets.
The council went on to say that it hopes to apply the technology to the AI optical link market soon. If this innovative technology can be incorporated into mass production processes, it will give domestic manufacturers a competitive edge in AI data links, completing domestic AI industry chains and raising stakes in international competition, it added. (YCH-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
With support from the NSTC, a research team led by Shi Jin-wei, professor at the National Central University Department of Electrical Engineering, successfully developed a novel vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL), whose core technology lies in a new zinc diffusion light-emitting aperture shape. After combining the laser element with single-mode optical fiber, it achieves a world record in direct modulation bandwidth (40 GHz) at 850 nm wavelength and a distance×data rate product of 1 km×56 Gbps without using any signal processing integrated circuits.
According to the council, the research results were presented at the Optical Fiber Communications Conference in 2024, and complete technical content was also published in the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics in 2025.
Technology revolution like AI in the form of ChatGPT and other apps, makes it crucial to move huge amounts of data between graphic processing units and their peripheral switch chips and different data centers at high speed, the NSTC said. It added that laser light sources combined with optical fiber can replace bulky and high-loss radio frequency cable and can significantly reduce the power consumption of AI cabinets.
The council went on to say that it hopes to apply the technology to the AI optical link market soon. If this innovative technology can be incorporated into mass production processes, it will give domestic manufacturers a competitive edge in AI data links, completing domestic AI industry chains and raising stakes in international competition, it added. (YCH-E)
Write to Taiwan Today at ttonline@mofa.gov.tw
from Taiwan Today – Top News