Rainbow Microchip: An Accidental Discovery That Could Revolutionize Data Systems

By Sophia Wang,

The Lawrenceville, NJ

Researchers at Columbia University’s Gaeta Lab discovered a microchip enabling the creation of a powerful frequency comb. This finding is revolutionary given its compressed size, energy-efficiency, and increased power output compared to traditional methods of frequency comb creation (Gil-Molina et al., 2025). Dubbed as “rainbow chips,” these microchips were, in fact, accidentally uncovered as scientists were working on a project to enhance LiDAR technologies, systems that use reflections of lightwaves to measure distance. They were designing high-power chips that could produce greater intensities of light; however, the researchers observed that instead of a single bright laser beam, evenly-spaced colors of light appeared, forming a miniature frequency comb. Frequency combs are special types of light in which evenly-spaced colors of light glow brightly, while gaps that are present in-between stay dark, creating a spectrum of colors situated like the prongs of a comb, as the name suggests (Currin, 2025).

Frequency combs are particularly significant in the context of data communications. Currently, even some of the most advanced data centers rely on single-wavelength lasers travelling through fiber optic cables to transport data. Thus, replacing these single-wavelength lasers with frequency combs has the potential to boost efficiency astronomically. Instead of one laser beam carrying one data transmission, a multitude of laser beams can run simultaneously through the same fiber. Therefore, companies can replace stands of individual lasers, streamlining production with a single microchip. This paves the way for accelerated, more energy efficient transmission systems (Currin, 2025). 

These small chip-based frequency combs, often called microcombs, are promising innovations for applications that require compact space, high output power, and high energy efficiency, such as data communications, sensing, and spectroscopy; their composition and size use less space and energy compared to traditional frequency combs or single-wavelength lasers (Gil-Molina et al., 2025). Until this discovery, though, microcombs had comparatively low output power, hampering their ability to be employed in commercial markets (Gil-Molina et al., 2025). They lagged behind single-wavelength lasers or conventional methods of producing frequency combs via mode-locked lasers which emit evenly-spaced fast frequencies of light in quick succession (Frequency Combs | NIST, 2025). These practices, however, require bulky and expensive lasers and amplifiers. 

This creation of an enhanced microchip fulfills the power requirements needed for practical applications such as data communications, high-performance computing, and devices for spectral-sensing and time keeping (Gil-Molina et al., 2025). In the Gaeta Lab scientists’ research, they uncovered that their “rainbow chip” has twice as many powerful comb lines as previous models and ten times as much total power as previous versions. Additionally, this “rainbow chip” demonstrates clear scalability, allowing for a potential large-scale production of a high-power frequency comb source in the future (Gil-Molina et al., 2025). 

However, before these microcombs can be deployed in a commercial setting, they must satisfy industry requirements. They will need to be thoroughly tested for their performance, accounting for fluctuating temperatures, their durability, and their vibration sensitivity. The price of this invention must also meet the market standard, allowing companies to easily make the switch. 

This breakthrough is revolutionary given the current technological demands of this day and age. As the usage of artificial intelligence continues to boom, the infrastructure in data centers are struggling to keep up with data transmission. Apart from data centers, these chips have the ability to “enable portable spectrometers, ultra-precise optical clocks, compact quantum devices, and even advanced LiDAR systems” (Currin, 2025). The invention of the rainbow chip may be the missing piece in the puzzle–transforming efficiency and bringing rise to new creations in the deepest corners of science.

References

Currin, G. (2025, October 7). Powerful and Precise Multi-color Lasers Now Fit on a Single Chip. Columbia Engineering. Retrieved October 26, 2025, from https://www.engineering.columbia.edu/about/news/powerful-and-precise-multi-color-lasers-now-fit-single-chip

Frequency Combs | NIST. (2025, July 18). NIST. https://www.nist.gov/noac/technology/quantum-optics-and-radiometry/frequency-combs

Gil-Molina, A., Antman, Y., Westreich, O., Ji, X., Shin, M. C., Bhatt, G. R., Datta, I., Kim, B. Y., Okawachi, Y., Gaeta, A. L., & Lipson, M. (2025). High-power electrically pumped microcombs. Nature Photonics. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41566-025-01769-z