[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 120 (Thursday, July 13, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2616-S2617]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

  SA 455. Mr. PADILLA submitted an amendment intended to be proposed by 
him to the bill S. 2226, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 
2024 for military activities of the Department of Defense, for military 
construction, and for defense activities of the Department of Energy, 
to prescribe military personnel strengths for such fiscal year, and for 
other purposes; which was ordered to lie on the table; as follows:

       At the appropriate place in title II, insert the following:

     SEC. 2__. STUDY ON USE OF MONOLITHIC INDIUM PHOSPHIDE SYSTEM 
                   ON CHIP PHOTONIC INTEGRATED CIRCUITS IN DEFENSE 
                   SUPPLY CHAINS.

       (a) Study.--The Secretary of Defense shall conduct [a] 
     study on the benefits, challenges, and opportunities 
     associated with the use of monolithic indium phosphide system

[[Page S2617]]

     on chip photonic integrated circuits (referred to in this 
     section as ``MInPSOCPICs'') in supply chains of the 
     Department of Defense.
       (b) Elements.--The study under subsection (a) shall address 
     the following:
       (1) The potential of use of MInPSOCPICs for defense 
     applications such as--
       (A) secure and high-speed communications networks, 
     including satellite based networks;
       (B) quantum information systems, sensing, and 
     communications;
       (C) microelectronics hardware architectures supporting 
     artificial intelligence applications;
       (D) precision position, timing, and navigation sensors, 
     such as short and long-range Light Detection and Ranging 
     systems or atomic clocks;
       (E) directed energy weapons; and
       (F) other such applications as determined by the Secretary.
       (2) The benefits associated with the use of MInPSOCPICs in 
     the Department supply chains, including benefits with respect 
     to power consumption, thermal management, light generation 
     and transmission, speed of data transfer, level of 
     integration and functional complexity, compatibility with 
     other electronics technologies, cost, size, performance 
     (linearity, noise, signal-to-noise-ratio, and output power), 
     and reliability of MInSOCPICs.
       (3) The challenges associated with the use of MInPSOCPICs 
     in the Department supply chains, including challenges 
     relating to--
       (A) domestic production at scale of MInPSOCPICs;
       (B) availability of domestic sources of MInPSOCPICs;
       (C) reliance on, development and use of, and attempts to 
     produce by foreign adversaries related to MInPSOCPICs, 
     heterogenous photonic integrated circuits, and indium and 
     phosphide-based microelectronics generally and at scale;
       (D) ability to scale the integration and packaging of 
     MInPSOCPICs; and
       (E) ability to integrate diverse functions for critical 
     applications on MInPSOCPICs.
       (4) The opportunities associated with the use of 
     MInPSOCPICs in the Department supply chains, including 
     opportunities for new technology developments and 
     applications, and heterogeneously integrated indium and 
     phosphide photonic integrated circuits for defense purposes.
       (5) Potential applications of MInPSOCPICs and heterogeneous 
     integrated photonic integrated circuits to support 
     international allies and partners of the United States.
       (6) Costs associated with the development and use of 
     MInPSOCPICs and heterogeneous integrated photonic integrated 
     circuits, including--
       (A) costs for further research and development unilaterally 
     and in conjunction with international allies and partners; 
     and
       (B) identification of the resources needed to procure or 
     develop technologies based on MInPSOCPICs and heterogenous 
     integrated photonic integrated circuits.
       (7) Any policies, resource constraints, or technical 
     challenges that limit the ability of each Secretary of a 
     military department to develop and use MInPSOCPICs and 
     heterogeneously integrated photonic integrated circuits in 
     its supply chains, including an assessment of the cost 
     related to the procurement of MInPSOCPICs at scale or for 
     specialized applications.
       (c) Report.--Not later than 180 days after the date of the 
     enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall submit to the 
     Committee on Armed Services of the Senate and the Committee 
     on Armed Services of the House of Representatives a report on 
     the findings of the Secretary with respect to the Study 
     conducted under subsection (a).
       (d) Form.--The report required under subsection (c) shall 
     be submitted in unclassified form, but may include a 
     classified annex.
       (e) Definitions.--In this section:
       (1) The term ``heterogeneous photonic integrated circuit'' 
     means a photonic integrated circuit fabricated using and 
     composed more than one base element and not including 
     silicon.
       (2) The term ``Monolithic Integrated Photonic Indium 
     Phosphide System on Chip Photonic Integrated Circuit'' means 
     a photonic integrated circuit fabricated using and composed 
     of the base elements indium and phosphide with diverse 
     functions on such circuit monolithically integrated to 
     include a laser, a modulator, detector, and optical 
     waveguides.
       (3) The term ``photonic integrated circuit'' means an 
     integrated circuit fabricated from a compound semiconductor 
     and containing photonic elements that perform analog or 
     digital functions with photons.
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