Title: Photonic Accurate and Portable Sensor Systems Exploiting Photo-Acoustic and Photo-Thermal Based Spectroscopy for Real-Time Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring
Website: https://www.passepartout-h2020.eu
Lead PI: W Whelan-Curtin
Total budget: 8540 K
Award returning to IPIC: 672 K
Key partners: TUM, Argotech, Uni Bari, Nanoplus
IPIC role: Laser Modules, Comms and Control Systems, System Integration, Deployment
Abstract: Air pollution in terms of toxic gas molecules and particulate matter is a major cause of morbidity and premature mortality, resulting in an estimated 4.2 million deaths per year. Real time pollution monitoring with high spatial resolution and public alerts is vital to minimise the exposure of the population, particularly the vulnerable, to air pollution. Direct access to high quality, trustworthy data will allow optimisation of daily schedules to reduce exposure. The availability of actionable data, which will, if necessary, stand up in court and with government, will drive long term changes in the behaviour of both the public and industry. Ambient pollutant reference detectors are impractical for widespread or mobile deployment. Miniature, low cost electrochemical generally are still not stable or sensitive enough for monitoring ambient pollutants reliably. PASSEPARTOUT will advance the development and deployment of miniature, hyperspectral optical based sensors based on Quartz Enhanced Photo-acoustic Spectroscopy and Photo-Thermal Interferometry for a wide range of ambient pollutants. The PASSEPARTOUT optical sensors operate in the mid-IR or NIR spectral range and allow calibration free methodologies as quantification is based on the well-known optical constants of the target analytes and will be compatible with the rigorous certification process. PASSEPARTOUT will realise the first 3D mobile optical gas analyser network capable of operating in an urban area. Innovative and high-performance technologies for high accuracy and flexible environmental air quality monitoring will be built into robust drone-mounted, low-cost vehicle-mounted and stationary sensors. The network will provide real-time information about the concentration of polluting gases (NOx, SO2, NH3, CH4, CO, CO2) and black carbon within urban areas, around landfills and seaports with extremely high precision and excellent spatial resolution.
Key Projects
Phactory
Duration: 2025-28
Acronym: Phactory
PI Name: P O’Brien
Topic: Packaging
Title: PhotonHub Factory for Next-Generation Photonics Innovation Support: Boosting European Industrial Competitiveness and securing Technological Sovereignty
Coordinator: VUB (Belgium)
Total Participants: 36
Contribution: € 452K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe
Key partners: VUB (Be), IMEC (Be), Fraunhofer(DE), III-V Labs (Fr), Lionix (NL), Polimi (It), CEA (Fr)
PHACTORY is a unique pan-European consortium operating as a one-stop-shop virtual factory for photonics innovation support of European industry. PHACTORY brings together over 30 partners representing Europe’s top competence centers in photonics. Together the
PHACTORY partners offer open streamlined access to the full spectrum of photonics technologies, expertise and supply chain activities from TRL2-7 including pilot lines and PIC foundries, combined with specialist partners in business, investment, intellectual property,
and EU manufacturing support services to maximize the commercial impact from the project. PHACTORY’s ambitious work plan builds on the proven track record of over 20 years of successful collaboration between the consortium partners in previous similar EU projects
and aims to go well beyond the current state-of-the-art in terms of its impact.
The PHACTORY project will simultaneously strengthen the European photonics innovation ecosystem with more complete and mature value chains linked to EU manufacturing which are integrated into the PhotonHub Association for sustainability of the innovation support
services. IPIC’s role is in providing support for collaborative cross-border innovation projects.
Phorwards21
Duration: 2024-27
Acronym: Phorwards21
PI Name: M O’Connell
Topic: Policy
Title: Photonics from research to market: Empowering Europe’s strategic autonomy, supporting the green deal and securing resilience – Photonics21
Coordinator: VDI (Germany)
Total Participants: 23
Contribution: € 77K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe
Key partners: VDI, VUB, PLGUK, AEIT, PFIN, PF and other National technology platforms
Phorwards21 will create and implement a comprehensive industrial strategy for photonics in Europe. The action will be implemented by Photonics21 (the EU Commission’s partner in the Horizon Europe Photonics Partnership) with its more than 3000 members from companies and research institutions as well as national photonics technology platforms and regional clusters. In addition to already initiated collaborations with end-user and other deep-tech partnerships, contacts with national ministries (Photonics21 Mirror Group) and financial actors such as the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European Investment Council (EIC) and (corporate) venture capital companies will be strengthened to implement the European photonics strategy and thus establish European strategic autonomy in this critical technology. Specific end-user community-based roadmaps will be developed, focusing not only on research priorities but also on industrial implementation, including pilot lines and the creation of appropriate framework conditions. The major role of IPIC is to support joint investment efforts together with supporting efforts of maintaining the photonics partnership in future Framework Programmes.
QCeed
Duration: 2025-28
Acronym: QCeed
PI Name: G Juska
Topic: Quantum
Title: Quantum Dot coupling engineering (and dynamic spin decoupling/deep nuclei cooling); 2-dimensional cluster state generation for quantum information processing
Coordinator: UCC (Ireland)
Total Participants: 7
Contribution: € 859K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe EIC (European Innovation Council)
The overarching objective of QCEED is to find solutions to current bottlenecks to photonic quantum information processing. “Scalable” photonic universal quantum computation exploits the measurement-based quantum computing paradigm relying onmulti-dimensional photonic cluster states. However, the technological capability to generate on-demand, large-scale 2-dimensional cluster states has not yet been proven. QCEED will demonstrate the (large-scale, i.e., many photons) emission of 2-dimensional cluster states of light thanks to the development of new engineered paired semiconductor quantum dot (QD) systems, and the exploitation of advanced deep nuclei cooling and/or dynamic spin decoupling to improve system coherence time. To achieve this, one needs to deterministically design QD coupling/pairing and ultimately tailor specific molecular states/ architectures (lambda like energy levels). Conventionally exploited self-assembled QD systems (e.g., SK or droplet epitaxy QD systems) are in general not suited for the task. QCEED will attack the issue with a twin-track approach and demonstrate the advantage of MOVPE site-controlled (In)GaAs pyramidal QDs and CBE InAsP nanowire QDs.
QCEED will also tackle the essential requirement for scalable quantum computation -that is to efficiently funnel the generated photons into specific photonic modes- by implementing tailored tapered wave-guiding designs and broadband optical cavities with relatively high Purcell factors.
QCEED brings together 7 partners from 5 countries which combined possess all the complementary expertise necessary to fulfil the ambitious objectives and to prepare a post-project sustainability and exploitability plan. The combined effort will result in a new scalable platform of semiconductor sources of multidimensional cluster states for efficient quantum information processing. If successful, large scale, on chip, quantum photonic computation will be a significantly closer certainty. The main technical role of IPIC is to investigate (a) MOVPE of PQDs and magneto- cryo-spectroscopy, (b) theoretical modelling for paired PQDs and (c) optical quantum correlations for 2D CS demonstration
Photonmed
Duration: 2024-28
Acronym: Photonmed
PI Name: Ray Burke
Topic: Biophotonics
Title: Pilot Line for Photonics-Based Medical Devices
Coordinator: VTT (Finland)
Total Participants: 39
Contribution: € 650K€
Instrument: Chips JU/Enterprise Ireland
Key partners: VTT, Ficontec, Sanmina, CSEM, Ligentec, III-V labs, Microtec, Philips, IMEC, TNO
Photonics is a key enabling technology in the realization of modern medical devices with applications ranging from diagnostics to personalised monitoring and therapeutics. Characteristic nature of both photonics and medical applications is high diversity. Therefore, the more widespread use of photonics technologies in scattered ecosystems presents major challenges for the technological values chains comprising end-user companies and manufacturers. In conjunction with highly regulated validation and production processes, the timespan from the proof-ofconcept to product launch takes years causing high costs. Relying on existing pilot line concept, PhotonMed aims at accelerated uptake of the latest photonics technologies in medical device applications. PhotonMed project is applied to continuously renew the technology offering of photonics pilot line and to invite new members and countries to join the ecosystem. Within research-oriented PhotonMed project RTOs and industrial parties can develop their technology offering while the end-user companies get matured demonstrators based on the latest research results. Tyndall is national coordinator and lead of Work Package 2 (“Advanced Integration”), which is focused on the further development of manufacturing technologies which integrate e.g. different optical components, biomolecules and microfluidic parts to the different platforms for various use cases, The first is based on the development of an in-vivo pilot case medical application (in collaboration with Sanmina) and the other with Ficontec which concerns the development of a micro-imager for a cathether for in-vivo surgical guidance and functional endoscopy.
Pionear
Duration: 2024-28
Acronym: Pionear
PI Name: Kamil Gradkowski
Topic: Packaging
Title: A photonic microphone with better-than-human-ear sound quality
Coordinator: Lumiary AB (Sweden)
Total Participants: 7
Contribution: € 637K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe EIC (European Innovation Council)
Project Intro:
The sense of hearing is critical to how we communicate and perceive the world. In our ever more digital and virtual lives, microphones are playing an increasingly important role. With MEMS technology, microphones have developed tremendously in the past decades. in terms of size and cost and are now ubiquitous in our living spaces, and they are also used in industry for a variety of purposes. Yet, despite all this progress, microphone technology falls short of perceiving audio as well as the human ear: No microphone has selfnoise ≤ 0 dB SPL (defined as the threshold of human hearing) the capability to sense sounds up to 120-130 dB SPL, and also a bandwidth of 20 kHz. By combining electronic, micromechanic and photonic technology, PIONEAR will build the first microphone with better-than-humanear sound quality, which will additionally have a miniature form factor. It will enable an immediate and vivid connection between the physical and the digital, creating augmented sonic and linguistic links to enhance the wonder of being alive. Armed with microphones that have very low noise, devices with microphone arrays will be able to listen with programmable directivity with higher selectivity than what is currently possible, paving the way for products with intelligently selective hearing similar to how humans hear. Applications range from consumer electronics to autonomous robots and vehicles and environmental monitoring. Although the focus of PIONEAR is to create a novel proof-of-concept photonics-based microphone, the underlying sensor concept is not limited to microphones. We expect that it will be applicable, with similar performance improvements, in a broad range of sensor categories, for example pressure and ultrasonic sensors, biochemical sensors, gas and aerosol sensors, and accelerometers
ADOPTION
Duration: 2023-2026
Acronym: ADOPTION
PI Name: Paul Townsend
Topic: Communications
Title: Advance co-packaged optics enabling high-efficiency cloud computing
Coordinator: Tyndall
Total Participants: 10
Contribution: €989 K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe
Project Intro:
ADOPTION works toward the goal of proving a low power and low cost solution for intra-data centre networks employing co-packaging of the optical (CPO) transceivers with the packed switch chip. Hyperscale data centres are a fundamental and inextricable part of our digital society. However, data centre power consumption represents a huge global problem accounting for 1% of the global power consumption. Scaling the capacity of the current architectures for intra-data centre networks is also becoming more and more challenging due to the increasing power consumption of the electrical interconnects between electrical packet switches and pluggable optical transceivers.
ADOPTION aims at addressing switch capacities scaling beyond 204.8Tb/s with port speeds of 6.4Tb/s by reducing the electrical interconnect lengths using silicon photonics CPO transceiver engines with high power efficiency targeting around 3pJ/bit. ADOPTION will also develop innovative packaging solutions using a two-part assembly separating the electrical and optical layers to simplify processes and increase yield. An advanced active optical alignment for fibre arrays will also be integrated in the assembly process with the aim of reducing assembly time and improving coupling efficiency. With these solutions ADOPTION is targeting the challenging goal of reducing the cost of the optical interfaces to below 50 cents per Gb/s. ADOPTION will also demonstrate disruptive new network architectures for hyper-scale data centres and AI computing clusters utilising optical switching and routing to increase efficiency and reduce latency.
NOBIAS
Duration: 2024-2029
Acronym: NOBIAS
PI Name: Santhana Konugolu Venkata Sekar
Topic: Biophotonics
Title: “Novel diffuse Optical method to combat skin colour bias in non-invasive optical biomarker sensing devices”
Coordinator: Tyndall
Total Participants: 1
Contribution: €1580 K€
Instrument: Horizon Europe ERC (European Research Council)
Project Intro:
NOBIAS aims to break through frontiers to create foundational multilayer fast Time Domain Diffuse Optical Spectroscopy (TDDOS) to eliminate color bias and inaccuracy shortcomings of current CW technology and revolutionize the future of bias-free, accurate optical biomarker sensing. To achieve this ambition, NOBIAS will create a multilayer TDDOS dynamic skin tissue model based on Monte Carlo to investigate the effect of skin type and anatomy on color bias, to optimize the concept, device and probe design to compensate and eliminate color bias and inaccuracies (WP1, Obj.1). 2 groundbreaking approaches (i) intermediate hybrid CW-TDDOS fusion approach (phase 1) is envisioned to compensate for skin color bias, followed by (ii) an ambitious new frontier fast TDDOS approach (phase 2) to eliminate color bias (WP2, Obj.2) and provide faster (100-250X), real time measurements at wearable footprint (100X). A first-of-a-kind compensation algorithm based on real-time instrument response function (IRF), and phantom arm aims to deliver groundbreaking accuracy (14X) (WP3, Obj.3). Early benchtop testing and feedback across work packages will mitigate risks of ambitious objectives. NOBIAS paradigm device/algorithm will be validated on tissue-mimicking phantoms and bias-free sensing will be demonstrated on blood biomarkers (haemoglobin (Hb, HbO), oxygen saturation (StO2, SpO2)) sensing at wrist location on healthy i) adults ii) infants (WP4, Obj.4).
NOBIAS breakthrough lays the foundation for the world’s first bias-free and accurate OBS devices and sets its legacy to be the gold standard for bias-free clinical and personal biomarkers sensing applications.
PhotonicLEAP
Project title: PhotonicLeap: Photonic Wafer-Level Integration Packaging and Test
Lead PI: Peter O’Brien
Website: www.photonicleap.com
Total budget: 5945K
Award returning to IPIC: 904K
Key partners: Ficontec, Bosch, LPFK laser
IPIC Role: TNI is responsible for overall project management. TNI is also responsible for package design and PDK development activities. TNI is also involved in packaging material and process development, supporting development of the validation demonstrators and working with BOS in exploitation and dissemination activities.
Key objective: Develop a fully automated and highly scalable disruptive PIC packaging and test technology which provides a greater than 10 times reduction in PIC production costs and use the disruptive technology to design and produce a revolutionary PIC package.
Abstract:
PhotonicLEAP will develop a disruptive wafer-level PIC module integration, packaging and test technology which can be scaled from low to very large volumes. PhotonicLEAP will use this disruptive technology to produce a revolutionary Surface Mount Technology (SMT) PIC package, which for the first time incorporates multiple optical and electrical connections. SMT is the most widely used, cost-effective and standardised package in the electronics world and PhotonicLEAP’s standardised SMT approach is set to follow, becoming a new global standard for cost-effective PIC packaging and high-throughput PIC testing. PhotonicLEAP will also develop standardised packaging design rules formalised into a Process Design Kit (PDK), providing users with easy access to the project technology through Open Access and commercial PIC design software tools. The project will validate these technologies through two state-of-the-art demonstrators, including a high-speed optical communication module and a portable medical device for cardio-vascular diagnostics. PhotonicLEAP’s approach will reduce the cost of PIC production by over 10 times, revolutionising existing applications and creating completely new markets. The project workplan includes high-quality measures to Exploit and Disseminate PhotonicLEAP’s results, including management of IP and research data, and to Communicate project activities to different target audiences. A key exploitation measure involves technology transfer to the flagship European PIC Packaging Pilot Line, PIXAPP, which has an extensive and growing user-base across multiple markets. PhotonicLEAP will be delivered by a highly experienced consortium with an unmatched record of excellence in developing and delivering many world firsts in PIC packaging, test technologies and advanced services. The consortium brings a wealth of interdisciplinary skills and state-of-the-art infrastructure to deliver on the project’s ambitious objectives.
PASSEPARTOUT
Title: Photonic Accurate and Portable Sensor Systems Exploiting Photo-Acoustic and Photo-Thermal Based Spectroscopy for Real-Time Outdoor Air Pollution Monitoring
Website: https://www.passepartout-h2020.eu
Lead PI: W Whelan-Curtin
Total budget: 8540 K
Award returning to IPIC: 672 K
Key partners: TUM, Argotech, Uni Bari, Nanoplus
IPIC role: Laser Modules, Comms and Control Systems, System Integration, Deployment
Abstract: Air pollution in terms of toxic gas molecules and particulate matter is a major cause of morbidity and premature mortality, resulting in an estimated 4.2 million deaths per year. Real time pollution monitoring with high spatial resolution and public alerts is vital to minimise the exposure of the population, particularly the vulnerable, to air pollution. Direct access to high quality, trustworthy data will allow optimisation of daily schedules to reduce exposure. The availability of actionable data, which will, if necessary, stand up in court and with government, will drive long term changes in the behaviour of both the public and industry. Ambient pollutant reference detectors are impractical for widespread or mobile deployment. Miniature, low cost electrochemical generally are still not stable or sensitive enough for monitoring ambient pollutants reliably. PASSEPARTOUT will advance the development and deployment of miniature, hyperspectral optical based sensors based on Quartz Enhanced Photo-acoustic Spectroscopy and Photo-Thermal Interferometry for a wide range of ambient pollutants. The PASSEPARTOUT optical sensors operate in the mid-IR or NIR spectral range and allow calibration free methodologies as quantification is based on the well-known optical constants of the target analytes and will be compatible with the rigorous certification process. PASSEPARTOUT will realise the first 3D mobile optical gas analyser network capable of operating in an urban area. Innovative and high-performance technologies for high accuracy and flexible environmental air quality monitoring will be built into robust drone-mounted, low-cost vehicle-mounted and stationary sensors. The network will provide real-time information about the concentration of polluting gases (NOx, SO2, NH3, CH4, CO, CO2) and black carbon within urban areas, around landfills and seaports with extremely high precision and excellent spatial resolution.
PhotonHub
PhotonHub is a digital innovation hub for photonics, established as a full-service-one-stop-shop to help boost the competitiveness and growth of photonics and non-photonics companies.
EUROPRACTICE
EUROPRACTICE is a European Electronic and Photonic Integrated Circuits (ICs and PICs) service provider. The consortium helps users prototype their designs and take them to volume production, from providing European academia with CAD tools, to industry and academia MPW runs and advanced packaging services.
CDT PIADS
The Centre for Doctoral Training (CDT) in Photonic Integration and Advanced Data Storage (PIADS) is a partnership between the Irish Photonic Integration Centre, Queen’s University Belfast and University of Glasgow which aims to tackle some of the challenges created by the increasing quantities of data generated by today’s society.
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Contact PIADS programme manager info@ipic.ie
SPARKLE
SPARKLE – Training Europe’s future photonics research leaders – is an innovative intersectoral, career development fellowship training programme. It is co-funded by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme (EU) and Research Ireland.