AI is still in its infancy, but it’s already pushing the photonics and computing industries to rethink product roadmaps and drive new levels of innovation. In today’s show, Gareth Spence talks with authors and analysts Daryl Inniss and Roy Rubenstein about the fast pace of AI development and the changes needed to unlock its full potential. They also discuss the upcoming sequel to their book on silicon photonics and its focus on AI. 

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The Net Works

23. Is AI driving a new wave of photonic innovation?

Squeezed light is a building block for the photonic future, making light-based systems smarter, faster, and more energy-efficient than silicon ever could be. It’s like giving photons a precision dial for quantum tasks, inching us closer to that “ideal” of scalable, lossless computing.


(Verse 1)
Femtosecond flash, in the quantum night,
Photons dance, in the laser's flight.
Uncertainty bends, with a precision twist,
Squeezed so tight, in a quantum mist.

Silica hums, beams align and spark,
Four-wave mix, lights the cosmic dark.
Phase or intensity, we control the stream,
Building the future, in a photon's dream.

(Chorus)
Squeezed light, burning bright,
Quantum pulse, ignite the night.
Faster, smarter, lossless flow,
Photonic future, here we go!

(Verse 2)
No silicon chains, no limits to bind,
Light's the key to the quantum mind.
Secure the signal, lock the code,
Eavesdroppers lost on a broken road.

From sensing stars to crafting new cures,
Ultrafast beams, the power's yours.
Wave by wave, we reshape the game,
Quantum optics, we're fanning the flame.

(Chorus)
Squeezed light, burning bright,
Quantum pulse, ignite the night.
Faster, smarter, lossless flow,
Photonic future, here we go!

(Bridge)
Spin the dial, phase or amp,
Light's our guide, we light the lamp.
No noise, no loss, just clarity's call,
Quantum dreams, we're breaking the wall.

(Chorus)
Squeezed light, burning bright,
Quantum pulse, ignite the night.
Faster, smarter, lossless flow,
Photonic future, here we go!

(Outro)
Femtosecond fire, the future's near,
Squeezed light shines, so crystal clear.
From chaos to order, the photons sing,
Quantum world, you're everything.

Squeezed Light

Under certain conditions, two-dimensional (2D) materials can exhibit remarkable quantum states, including superconductivity and unusual types of magnetism. Scientists and engineers have long sought to understand why these phases appear and how they might be controlled. 


Verse 1
In a world as thin as breath and skin,
Light gets caught and folds within,
Edges gleam like silver eyes,
Holding time beneath the skies.
We move through patterns, pulse and sound,
Where hidden echoes spin around,
Reflections hum, the silence breaks,
Quantum mirrors come awake.

Pre-Chorus
Walls of shimmer, soft and small,
Calling through the particle hall,
From shadowed edge to glowing gate,
We shift the dream, we calibrate.

Chorus
Quantum mirrors, bend the light inside,
Dancing through the waves we ride,
Glowing colors, side by side,
In this trance we're electrified.
Quantum mirrors, burning fire,
Fusing thought with deep desire,
When the rhythm and the light combine,
The universe begins to shine.

Verse 2
Layers floating, dream on dream,
Sliding softly through the beam,
No machines, no metal walls,
Just the whisper as it falls.
We tune the field, the current glows,
The hidden world beneath it shows,
The night unfolds, the pulses wake,
We're what the light and shadow make.

Pre-Chorus
In this place where space is thin,
We feel creation from within,
Waves of sound and color dance,
Caught inside this great expanse.

Chorus
Quantum mirrors, bend the light inside,
Dancing through the waves we ride,
Glowing colors, side by side,
In this trance we're electrified.
Quantum mirrors, burning fire,
Fusing thought with deep desire,
When the rhythm and the light combine,
The universe begins to shine.

Bridge (Breakdown)
Hear the hum, the echo rise,
The pulse beneath the neon skies,
Mirrors turning, bending space,
We vanish in their soft embrace.
We're the current, we're the spark,
Light reborn inside the dark,
Quantum dreams are all we know,
Reflections guide the flow.

Build-Up
Side-chain heart, electric air,
Everything and nothing there,
Spinning fast, then slow release,
Quantum mirrors breathe in peace.

Final Chorus
Quantum mirrors, bend the light inside,
Dancing through the waves we ride,
Glowing colors, side by side,
In this trance we're electrified.
Quantum mirrors, endless flight,
Through the veil of black and white,
We're suspended in the wave's delight,
Quantum mirrors… into the night.

Outro
In the shimmer where we fade and rise,
The rhythm keeps our souls alive,
Every flash a world reborn,
Quantum mirrors hold the dawn.

Quantum Mirrors

OFE² provides high-throughput optical linear algebra essential for AI acceleration, while 2D quantum mirrors promise tunable nonlinear and quantum-enhanced operations. Together, they address key barriers—speed, energy, and integration—paving the way for photonic-dominant systems in data centers, edge AI, and quantum-classical hybrids


[Verse 1]
In the quiet of the lab where the lasers hum low,
Electrons are crawling, but the photons let go.
Twelve-point-five gigahertz in a flicker of glass,
OFE squared on the chip, leaving circuits in the past.
No more copper veins choking on heat,
Just waves in the waveguide, dancing discrete.
[Pre-Chorus]
Edge of the mirror, two-D confine,
Terahertz trapped in a crystalline line.
Quantum reflections where matter meets gleam,
We're rewriting the rules in a parallel beam.
[Chorus]
Turn the light on, let the silicon fade,
Matrix in motion, no delay in the trade.
From CT shadows to the trader's command,
We compute at the speed of the wave in our hand.
Light over silicon, the future's unfurled-
AI at the speed of the world.
[Verse 2]
Diffraction operator etched in the stone,
Phase array shifting, never alone.
Picoseconds ticking like sparks in the dark,
Relief and engraving, leaving their mark.
Graphene whispers to TMD skies,
Plasmon polaritons open their eyes.
[Pre-Chorus]
No external cage, just the edge of the flake,
Self-made cathedral where the light waves break.
From the lab in Beijing to the edge of the night,
We're trading in darkness for rivers of light.
[Chorus]
Turn the light on, let the silicon fade,
Matrix in motion, no delay in the trade.
From CT shadows to the trader's command,
We compute at the speed of the wave in our hand.
Light over silicon, the future's unfurled-
AI at the speed of the world.
[Bridge]
No more bottlenecks, no thermal regret,
Just coherent frontiers where the data is set.
Hybrid tomorrow, but the photon leads,
Silicon steps back-light plants the seeds.
[Final Chorus]
Turn the light on, watch the old world dissolve,
Every problem a pattern that the photons resolve

Silicon No More

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