PIX4life: photonic integrated circuits for bio-photonics

As key enabling technology, photonics has become critical in many fields. Advances in fabrication technologies have realized photonic integrated circuits not only for telecommunication wavelengths but also in the mid-infrared, and very importantly, in the visible. The latter can strongly benefit bio- and life-science applications where visible light is very commonly used in bulky and expensive optical systems. Through PICs Robust optical functionalities can be realized cost-effectively. However, the technology was not openly available until very recently.The pilot line, PIX4life, was established with the aid of the European Union to facilitate European R&D employing visible light PICs for visible applications, targeting mainly health and bio-science applications.