Aeluma, Thorlabs demonstrate large-diameter wafer manufacturing platform

Aeluma (ALMU), together with Thorlabs announced a major advancement in silicon photonics that could accelerate adoption of quantum computing and communication at commercial scale. Aeluma’s large-diameter wafer platform combines the performance of compound semiconductors with the scale of mainstream silicon manufacturing, enabling cost-effective solutions across high-growth markets including mobile, AI, defense and aerospace, automotive, and quantum computing. Silicon photonics is a promising technology for quantum computing and communication. Aeluma’s ability to incorporate quantum dot sources and highly nonlinear electro-optic materials unlocks new high-performance functionality for this platform. Collaborating with Thorlabs, and with support from the Office of Secretary of Defense, Aeluma successfully demonstrated wafer-scale integration of aluminum gallium arsenide, a nonlinear optical material, onto CMOS silicon photonics standard 200mm diameter wafers, providing a path for scaling complex quantum photonic circuits. The nonlinear optical material enables entangled photon pair generation and modulation, key building blocks for quantum photonic systems. Compared with other materials like silicon nitride or lithium niobate, aluminum gallium arsenide offers significantly improved efficiency for next-generation quantum photonic circuits.