Swinburne secures $1.1 million in grants for optical IT research projects with China
In Summary
Researchers at Swinburne University of Technology’s Centre for Micro-Photonics (CMP) have been awarded $6.5 million CN¥ (A$1.1 million) by the National Natural Science Foundation of China for two information photonics (I-Photonics) research projects through established collaborations with two leading institutes in China.
I-Photonics plays an important role in communication, display and information storage. In particular, high-definition optical display and ultra-high capacity optical storage are two leading technologies that contribute to the prosperity of our digital economy.
Over the last two years, Professor Min Gu and Dr Xiangping Li from the CMP have initiated an international collaboration with Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT) to develop three-dimensional optical display without the use of special eye wear.
The $3 million CN¥ (A$550,000) Key Program for International S & T Cooperation Project from the National Natural Science Foundation of China brings together nanophotonics expertise at Swinburne with large-scale optical engineering at BIT.
The funding covers a wide range of collaborative activities including exchange and student mentoring programs, joint experiments and the development of a pilot prototype.
The awarding of $3.5 million CN¥ (A$650,000) from National Natural Science Foundation of China to Swinburne will enable the development of a pilot prototype of optical storage arrays.
As one of the important aspects in the I-Photonics technology chain, ultra-high capacity optical storage has been heralded as the ultimate solution to big data storage.
In particular, it can provide sustainable techniques for petabyte data storage centres.
Dr Xiangping Li and Dr Yaoyu Cao from the CMP have been collaborating with renowned computer scientists in Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics to develop optical storage array techniques.
“This is a critical step to accelerate the translation of the petabyte optical storage technique developed at the CMP toward the new platform of photonic data centres,” adviser to this project, Swinburne’s Professor Min Gu, said.