Professor Chaoran Huang, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering, has won the Optica (formerly OSA) Foundation 20th Anniversary Challenge for her pioneering research on integrated photonic neuromorphic processor-enabled intelligent, energy-efficient signal processing for next-generation communication systems – one of ten winning projects globally.

Global internet traffic continues to grow at exponential rates. To keep up with its scale, optical communications systems will need to provide 10 times more communication capacity, while the signal processors that serve as the foundation for these systems must reduce their energy use per bit by tenfold. This need for both processing capability and energy efficiency creates challenges for today’s systems. Professor Huang’s new research may have the answer, with an integrated photonic neuromorphic processor.

Professor Huang’s design employs the strengths of the intrinsic properties of photonics, deep learning architectures and integrated photonic technologies to create a photonic processor that is anticipated to be 10 times more energy-efficient while reducing processing latency by 1,000 times. In addition, employing silicon photonics as the basis for the photonic processor makes it more cost-effective and accessible for wider industry exploration.

More details: https://www.cpr.cuhk.edu.hk/en/press/cuhk-engineering-professor-wins-the-optica-foundation-20th-anniversary-challenge/