Silicon photonics' second wave
- “I believe the field of silicon photonics is at a pivotal point of change and acceleration.”
- Professor Roel Baets, the winner of the 2020 John Tyndall Award, talks about what motivates his research and his interests.
Two concentric circles drawn in chalk are shown on-screen. So Professor Roel Baets open his plenary talk at the European Conference on Integrated Optics (ECIO) 2020, asking the online audience what is being shown.
Suggestions come flooding in: the cross-section of an optical fibre, a silicon wafer, a ring resonator optical component and - the correct answer - a doughnut.
The image is from the front cover of Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth, a UK professor of economics.
The author discusses how continual economic growth is out of kilter with the planet’s well-being and details alternative approaches. The “doughnut” represents a sweet-spot region ensuring sustainable growth.
Baets applied the book’s thinking to his plenary talk on the topic of silicon photonics research.