Light chip research at MIT: Engineering and culture in Boston

For the past few months, I have been able to fully immerse myself in American culture. I did an internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, researching light chips. What is it like to live in Boston? And what is a light chip anyway? Do we really need them, and don't chips just work with electricity?

Chips as the backbone of our contemporary society

Chips are essential: without them, our modern infrastructure would grind to a complete halt. They make sure this article downloads on your device and displays correctly. Yet the exact functioning of chips is unknown to many people. The chips we know best, computing chips based on ones and zeros, where a transistor is either on or off, operate on electricity. But there is also another, lesser-known variant: chips that do not work with electricity, but with light.

Chips with light instead of electricity

These light chips, or rather photonic chips, cannot just do everything an electronic chip can do, they are complementary. They are mainly used for sending and receiving information and for making extremely small and precise sensors. Although most people are not consciously aware of them, chances are you use them on a daily basis, for example via fibre optic internet. By transmitting information with light instead of electricity, data can be shared more energy-efficiently and significantly faster.

A concrete example can be found with NVIDIA's latest chips. There, photonic chips are deployed because electronic chips cannot process the huge amounts of data needed for AI fast enough and consume too much energy in the process. Energy-efficient photonic chips allow data centres to use less power, emit less heat and process more information.

Doing an internship at MIT

During my internship at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I was involved in simulating, fabricating and characterising such photonic chips. I had the unique opportunity to perform the entire process of making a photonic chip myself. Although I worked independently on my project, I was part of a research group within the Department of Materials Science. With my background in Electrical Engineering, the level took some getting used to in the beginning, but thanks to the open and helpful colleagues, I was soon able to actively think and participate.

In addition, what struck me is how many extracurricular activities are organised at MIT. For instance, there are glass-blowing and metalworking workshops and numerous sports clubs you can join without any obligation. The atmosphere is hugely motivating: the aim is to learn together and get better together. I noticed this, among other things, during our research group's journal club.

Life in Boston

Besides the valuable technical knowledge, I also thoroughly enjoyed my free time. I lived with about 15 other Dutch people in the heart of Boston. It is a fine city with an almost European character. Boston is known for its many sports teams, and almost every week there are games in the big stadiums. The people are friendly and there is no shortage of cosy cafes and good restaurants.

I look back on my time in Boston with a very good feeling. I am grateful to KIVI for making this adventure possible. This internship has not only provided me with valuable experience that I will take into my future career, but also strengthened my ambition to further develop the applications of photonic chips.