An image of the newly developed transmitter assembly. The small, brownish chip on the left is the electronic integrated circuit (EIC), and the larger, black-and-gold chip on the right is the photonic integrated circuit (PIC). The long structure on the left side of the PIC is the modulator, which converts the electrical signal into an optical one. Light gets coupled into and out of the chip through the fibers on the right side of the PIC. Everything is mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB), with gold wire bonds connecting the chips. Data flows from left to right, where the incoming electrical signal gets amplified by the EIC, converted to an optical signal by the PIC, and sent out via fiber to its destination.

Materials PhD students Tanay Tak (left) and Bailey Rhodes, 2023 National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate Fellows

The 2023 New Venture Competition Finals will be on Thursday, May 25.

An array of charge-based and non-charge-based devices built with 2D materials may enable next-generation information processing and storage technologies. Four of the most promising devices — the spin-FET and the TFET (both for processing) as well as the FG-FET and the MTJ (both for storage) — are covered in the article. Illustration by Arnab Pal

The Perito Moreno Glacier in Argentina, as seen from the International Space Station on Feb 21, 2012. Photograph courtesy of NASA