Moore’s law in Photonics

The complexity development of Photonic ICs shows a similar development as Moore’s law in electronics. The development of photonic integration technology in the past decades will be reviewed and similarities and differences between photonic and microelectronic integration will be discussed. So far the main driver for Photonic Integration has been telecommunications. New developments in Photonic Integration will bring the costs of Photonic ICs down to a level where they become attractive to SMEs for a broad range of applications, including interconnect, sensors, metrology and health. The presentation will conclude with a vision on the future development of photonic integration.