Opto electronic integration makes it possible to unite high performance lasers, modulators, detectors, and CMOS electronics in compact and efficient systems that would be impossible or impractical to realize using discrete, off the shelf components. Heterogeneous or epitaxial integration of these components in a single package offers lower loss and higher bandwidth in the signal path, along with lower power consumption in a smaller footprint. It also enables lower cost, mass manufacturability, and significantly more sophisticated control and actuation through nearby complex electronics.
Such integration is a key enabler for next generation data communications, sensing, imaging, and quantum and microwave photonic systems.