Journal
NATURE PHOTONICS
Volume 9, Issue 11, Pages 725-+Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/NPHOTON.2015.182
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) [PE 1832/1-1, PE 1832/2-1]
- EPSRC grant [EP/J018783/1]
- JEOL UK
- Clarendon Fund
- Karlsruhe School of Optics and Photonics (KSOP)
- Stiftung der Deutschen Wirtschaft (sdw)
- John Fell Fund
- EPSRC [EP/J00541X/2, EP/J018694/1]
- DFG
- State of Baden-Wurttemberg through the DFG-Center for Functional Nanostructures (CFN) within subproject A6.4
- Karlsruhe Nano Micro Facility (KNMF)
- Helmholtz Research Infrastructure at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/J00541X/1, EP/J018694/1, EP/M015130/1, EP/M015173/1, EP/J018783/1, EP/J00541X/2, EP/L01730X/1] Funding Source: researchfish
- EPSRC [EP/M015130/1, EP/J018783/1, EP/M015173/1, EP/J00541X/2, EP/J00541X/1, EP/J018694/1, EP/L01730X/1] Funding Source: UKRI
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Implementing on-chip non-volatile photonic memories has been a long-term, yet elusive goal. Photonic data storage would dramatically improve performance in existing computing architectures(1) by reducing the latencies associated with electrical memories(2) and potentially eliminating optoelectronic conversions(3). Furthermore, multi-level photonic memories with random access would allow for leveraging even greater computational capability(4-6). However, photonic memories(3,7-10) have thus far been volatile. Here, we demonstrate a robust, nonvolatile, all-photonic memory based on phase-change materials. By using optical near-field effects, we realize bit storage of up to eight levels in a single device that readily switches between intermediate states. Our on-chip memory cells feature single-shot readout and switching energies as low as 13.4 pJ at speeds approaching 1 GHz. We show that individual memory elements can be addressed using a wavelength multiplexing scheme. Our multi-level, multi-bit devices provide a pathway towards eliminating the von Neumann bottleneck and portend a new paradigm in all-photonic memory and non-conventional computing.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available