Photonics is the area of technology concerned with the transmission and properties of photons. Developments in photonics have led to innovations across a wide range of fields including optical data communications, imaging, life sciences and healthcare, and lighting and displays.

While photonic chips – microchips containing two or more photonic components which form a functioning circuit – have come a long way in the field of lighting, integrating a small, bright on-chip light emitter has remained elusive. Normally, manufacturers resort to using an off-chip light source, which has low energy efficiency and limits the scalability of photonic chips.