October 8, 2025 — Leads & Copy — NTT Research, Inc., in collaboration with Cornell University and Stanford University, has announced the development of a programmable nonlinear photonic waveguide capable of switching between multiple nonlinear-optical functions on a single chip. According to the company, this breakthrough fundamentally alters the operation of nonlinear photonic devices, moving past the “one device, one function” model, and broadens the applications for tunable light sources, optical and quantum computation, and communication.
Ryotatsu Yanagimoto, a scientist at NTT Research, led the research under the supervision of Peter L. McMahon, an associate professor at Cornell University. The paper, “Programmable On-Chip Nonlinear Photonics,” was published by leading scientific journal Nature online on Oct. 8, 2025. It will be published in print by Nature on Nov. 13, 2025.
The programmable nonlinear waveguide utilizes a silicon nitride core with dynamically modifiable nonlinearity through structured light patterns. This allows different light patterns to enable various nonlinear-optical functions on the same physical chip.
Researchers successfully demonstrated arbitrary pulse shaping, widely tunable second-harmonic generation, holographic generation of spatio-spectrally structured light, and real-time inverse design of nonlinear-optical functions using the new device.
IDTechEx projects significant growth in the photonic-integrated circuit technology market, estimating over $50 billion in revenue by 2035 across various markets, including datacoms, 5G telecoms, quantum, sensors, and LiDAR.
The technologies developed could address obstacles in the photonics industry, such as cost reduction, improved yields, and space and power efficiency. This technology shows promise in quantum computing, telecommunications, advanced manufacturing, imaging, and scientific instrumentation.
NTT Research’s PHI Lab focuses on computation within quantum physics and brain science, aiming to develop both hardware and software.
Contact: Ryotatsu Yanagimoto
