Microcomb Photonic Engine

M-ENGINE proposes a unique solution to the rapidly increasing bandwidth demands of data centers. With the massive growth of AI and social media in an increasingly connected world, data centers are expected to account for 20% of Europe's energy use by 2030, posing a significant challenge to meet the EU's climate goals. Current solutions to increase bandwidth in optical communications involve adding more single-channel lasers, which neither meets the capacity needs nor the energy requirements. Our proposal offers a scalable solution based on the Nobel prize-winning technology of optical frequency combs to provide highly coherent multi-channel lasers for high-capacity, low energy consumption data transmission. M-ENGINE's solution can replace 100s of individual lasers used in connecting data centers with just one compact system. 

UNICO is a consortium of three global leading comb-laser experts working together to develop the ideal technology platform for compact, high-throughput WDM solutions required to meet the growing needs of the data communications industry. 

Project in collaboration with Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies, Aston University, Birmingham. 

The project involves generating and optimising optical frequency combs for energy-efficient communication. Also, exploring various advanced modulation formats and in connection with multiplexing schemes to improve transmission capacity.

The project was done in collaboration with Sterlite Technology Pvt. Ltd., Aurangabad. Sterlite manufactures few-mode fibers for the test and  data transmission at IIT Madras.

The project aims at developing the technology for increasing the bandwidth/spectral efficiency of the optical fibre networks through the use of a few-mode fibres with the specific objectives of: (1) Characterization of few-mode fibers for attenuation, bending loss, dispersion, and nonlinearity, (2) Establishing MIMO-based processing for communication through the few mode fibers with OFDM and (3) Demonstration of enhanced bandwidth for access and long haul (two-spans, >100 km) scenario.