Optica Incubator on Programmable Photonics

Photonic chip platforms are now reaching a maturity where they can be put to actual use. However, developing a new chip is still slow, costly, and error-prone. Programmable photonics can lower this threshold by providing a tool to prototype new functionality without the need to go through a costly chip design-fabrication-test cycle. This programmability combined with new architectures and algorithms opens novel application possibilities, including ones that self-configure in real time to changing inputs and requirements. This programmability can be a game changer for the adoption of photonics into new fields and for growing the user community beyond the small crowd with a PhD in photonics.