Identification number: LZP-2024/1-0396
Type: Latvian Council of Science Fundamental and Applied Research project
Duration: 01.01.2025-31.12.2027
Project Leader: Dr. Jānis Braunfelds Riga Technical University
Responsible person from Institute of Solid State Physics, University of Latvia (ISSP UL): Dr. Maira Elksne
Project partners: Riga Technical University
Total budget: 300 000 EUR
ISSP UL budget: 144 000 EUR
Project description:
The POLYCONNECT project focuses on integrating optical polymer waveguides into printed circuit boards (PCBs) to create high-capacity optical interconnects for efficient data transmission in data centers. As global data traffic grows exponentially, wavelength division multiplexing (WDM) Silicon Photonics (SiPho) transceivers are increasingly deployed. However, traditional electric interconnects on PCBs cannot meet the scaling demands of energy efficiency, channel density, and bandwidth. To address this limitation, the project aims to replace electric transmission lines with optical waveguides, which offer superior bandwidth-length product and improved data handling capabilities. The ultimate goal of POLYCONNECT is to demonstrate polymer photonic interconnects for high-density data centers, using line card PCB prototypes that enable low power consumption and high-speed multichannel data transmission.