Optical loss is the enemy with leakage being absorbed by the assembly. This of course generates heat and requires a higher powered lasing and in many applications requires signal amplification and ultimately the need for higher efficiency detectors. And keep in mind that heat causes a lot of issues with wavelength stability (POET has achieved 4nm spacing in CWDM). You can push the temperature of electronics without causing too much impact to the operating characteristics (aging is accelerated) but optical components do not have the same tolerance where the signal generated drifts and is no longer recognized.  Error correction adds latency, power and cost.

As described by our president. 50% of the light is typically lost in optical engines. Really an astounding number so regardless of the ability to cut costs and improve yield through wafer level processes it must improve. 

Butt, you just can`t throw out the baby with the bathwater (what an awful term).

Macom`s L-PIC in its current form is not the answer.  But there are I think many approaches to modify existing platforms to provide viable solution for the next generation of optical integration using the POET OI. And companies will want to preserve their IP with the benefits that POET can provide. I think the POET OI will offer an upgrade that many companies will need to be competitive in order to participate in this growing market.

Below is a conclusion (2019) associated with an effort (associated with sensing applications) that Trevor Hall (our collaboration with Millveiw Photonics waveguide design in Ottawa) participated in with Huawei Canada.

 Assembly and Packaging are considered major challenges for development of a robust hybrid platform, especially when scaling to very complex hybrid processors where modulator-arrays, detector-arrays and gain sections monolithically integrated on InP. Manufacturing of these relatively large chips requires investments in manufacturing, testing, inspection and automation in order to stabilize and mature the front-end processes and bring the yield to acceptable levels. Moreover, modelling and measurements on RF-performance and thermal behavior of the assemblies and modules is key to develop robust solutions for automotive, life sciences and space applications. In the end all challenges in integrated photonics are related to different fields of expertise, such as materials science and engineering. Challenges and solutions evolve out of combined expertise of multidisciplinary teams. The examples and work presented in this paper are the results of collaborations and intensive research in the past decade.  

He said this about POET:

 POET’s unique Optical Interposer™ platform has tremendous market potential, and we are all committed as one team to its success.”

POET is working at the edge. Where is the POET whitepaper? The most advanced mixed signal electronic integration approach married with photonics in the POET platform.

Time for some elevator music:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWSWZ_GTxUk

A problem to communicate?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=452XjnaHr1A