Distinguished iNANO Lecture: The Exponential Growth of Photonic Integration Technology

Dr. Martijn J.R. Heck, Associate Professor, Department of Engineering, Aarhus University

The Exponential Growth of Photonic Integration Technology

Photonic integrated circuits, also known as optical chips, integrate multiple optical components and functionalities on a single piece of semiconductor, typically silicon or indium phosphide. The technology of optical chips is maturing fast, driven by high-bandwidth communications applications, and mature fabrication facilities. State of the art commercial optical chips integrate hundreds of components, such as lasers, detectors, modulators, and filters, whereas laboratory demonstrators show integration levels of thousands of components. For almost three decades, this increase in optical chip complexity has been doubling every two years, much like Moore's Law for electronic integrated circuits.

I will discuss the state of the art in this technology and the opportunities for both fundamental and applied research.

Bio: Martijn Heck is an Associate Professor in the Department of Engineering of Aarhus University, where he is setting up a research line on photonic integrated circuits. His focus is on applications in optical interconnects, microwave photonics, sensors, and biomedical imaging and spectroscopy. He received the M.Sc. degree in applied physics and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Eindhoven University of Technology, in 2002 and 2008, respectively. As a postdoctoral researcher and research scientist he worked at the COBRA Research Institute in Eindhoven, at the Laser Centre, Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, and at the University of California Santa Barbara. In these positions he explored all the major photonic integration technologies and their use in fields like satellite positioning, computer-communication and defense.