The CoE-CPPICS has been established on 1st January 2021 in the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras with a substantial seed funding of Rs. 2,665 Lakhs from the MeitY, Govt. of India (Sanction No. GG-11/15/2020/EMCD, dated 29.12.2020) and in-kind contribution of Rs. 325 Lakhs from the izmo Microsystems Bengaluru. This recognition and funding has been possible because of 14 years (since 2006) of R&D work by the Integrated Optoelectronic Research Group led by Prof. Bijoy Krishna Das in the area of silicon photonics technology.

Research Objectives

The major objective of this center is the design and experimental demonstration of a multipurpose Field Programmable Photonic Gate Array (FPPGA) Core using Silicon Photonics Technology and use its various system level applications by interfacing fiber pigtailed lasers, modulators, control electronics, fiber attachment assemblies and driving software. As a proof of concept, the developed FPPGA core will be programmed for reconfigurable RF filters (X and Ku bands) and heralded single photon and/or entangled photon pairs for quantum key distribution (QKD). The proposed FPPGA core will be fiber pigtailed and packaged for field trials. Moreover, the hybrid/co-integration of FPPGA core with lasers, modulators, photodetector monitors and control electronics will be explored as a follow-up objective to optimize the size, weight and power consumption, i.e, to minimize the SWaP figure of merit.

Mission

Centre for Programmable Photonics Integrated Circuits and Systems (CPPICS) is a newly established Centre of Excellence (CoE) at the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Madras and funded by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Govt. of India. Major objective of this CoE is to cater to the industrial needs of R&D in the field of photonics with a focus on the design and development of multipurpose programmable photonic processor chips for various system level applications. Since a programmable photonic processor circuit can be designed by Mach-Zehnder interferometer based tunable basic units (TBUs) in various mesh architectures, it is fondly called by many as the Field Programmable Photonic Gate Array (FPPGA). The nomenclature FPPGA is directly borrowed from the analogous concept of electronic field programmable photonic gate array (FPGA) used in digital electronics. However, usages of FPGA and FPPGA are not equivalent; rather FPGA based control electronics are required for driving the proposed FPPGA block. Therefore, co-integration of FPPGA and FPGA through electronic and photonic design automation (EPDA) is considered as the next generation semiconductor technology challenge for energy efficient and cost-effective solutions of complex problems. The CoE-CPPICS is committed for the demonstration of FPPGA based optical signal processors for cutting-edge technology solutions in the area of quantum photonics and microwave photonics engineering. Our industry partner izmo Microsystems, Bengaluru has been actively involved in this mission with substantial in-kind commitments. This mission mode program has been planned for a duration of five years starting from 1st January 2021.

Vision

To build capacity in all verticals of Photonics Integrated Circuits manufacturing eco-system through focused R&D and nurture Indian industry for manufacturing and sales of Photonics Integrated Circuits and Systems.