I-90 Corridor: Highway to the Future

From idea to implementation at the speed of light

The I-90 corridor between Rochester, NY, and Boston will be a conduit that ties together elements of a vibrant photonics education, research, and development ecosystem. It will also be a highway for innovation, as ideas become designs, and designs become hardware to be tested, refined, and released to meet the needs of the industry.

As a hub on this network, LEAP in Central Massachusetts will be equipped with state-of-the-art tools to realize innovative photonics integrated circuits (PICs) and devices. Designs created there will be built at a fabrication facility in Albany, returned to be characterized, tested, and refined, assembled at a packaging facility in Rochester, and returned again as prototypes to be tested for reliability. State-of-the-art equipment at the LEAP facility will enable the development of advanced photonics integrated circuits for design, characterization testing, and reliability testing.

The focus will be two of the field’s major challenges: developing PICs that combine and package multiple functions onto a single device, and on integrating photonics with electronics. The goal is to support the growth and development of the emerging integrated photonics manufacturing sector.