Nanopositioning, customization and control: opening new frontiers in optical computing – Physics World

German technology start-up Akhetonics is working to bring all-optical digital computation to high-performance computing. To achieve this, the company aims to develop a reasoning processing unit that manages data processing and storage at a new scale. While the theoretical advantages of photonic computing include higher bandwidth and energy efficiency, moving from research to scalable implementation requires precise hardware.

Akhetonics turned to SmarAct, a German manufacturer specializing in high-precision positioning and metrology, to co-develop a custom testing workstation. This hardware is critical for characterizing photonic integrated circuits. The system uses nanopositioning subsystems to provide six-axis motion, allowing for alignment at the nanometre scale.

This partnership addresses the specific engineering challenges of coupling laser light into on-chip waveguides. Precise alignment is necessary to minimize insertion losses, as even small deviations lead to significant drops in efficiency. SmarAct supplied the positioners and the software platform, which integrates with the testing routines used by the Akhetonics team.

The collaboration illustrates how specialized instrumentation accelerates innovation in the photonic sector. By iterating through designs using this custom workstation, Akhetonics is preparing for a transition from research and development into small-batch production. Both companies are using this project to gain insight into future requirements for the broader high-performance computing market.