By invitation: Professor Roel Baets on Silicon Photonics 4.0

Roel Baets, Emeritus Professor at Ghent University and former Group Leader at imec gave a plenary talk on 'Silicon Photonics 4.0' at the recent ECOC conference. "It will be important for silicon photonics to make use of smart and agile manufacturing, a notion associated with Industry 4.0," said Professor Baets, explaining the title.

In a guest piece, he explains his thoughts and discusses what he saw at ECOC. He also has a request.

Source: ECOC

One of the things I discussed in my ECOC plenary talk was the large gap between research and product development for new applications of photonic integrated circuits (PICs) on the one hand, and product sales and new industrial process flows on the other.

Among many reasons for this gap, one stands out: the major barriers that fabless start-ups face when developing a product based on a still immature industrial supply chain.

Click to read more ...

ECOC celebrates its 50th anniversary

• The European Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary.
• The conference and exhibition will take place in Frankfurt, Germany, from September 22-26.
• Key themes at the show include satellite optical communication, artificial intelligence, networking for AI within the data centre, photonic integration, quantum and Green ICT. 

ECOC will celebrate its 50th anniversary this month.

Professor Carmen Mas MachucaThe event will include a special session highlighting the progress made in photonics over the last half century and will feature luminary speakers. 

 There will also be a celebratory event with food stalls from different countries. 

“There will be an opportunity to mingle, and we also plan an exhibition to look back at what has been achieved combined with what directions we need to take for the future,” says Jörg-Peter Elbers, an ECOC General Chair this year. 

Click to read more ...

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.

Professor Roel Baets

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.

Click to read more ...

X-Celeprint brings printing technology to silicon photonics

X-Celeprint's micro transfer printing technology. Source: X-Celeprint

• X-Celeprint has a printing process that places individual 'chiplets' of III-V material onto silicon 
• The micro transfer printing technique can be used to make silicon photonics circuits
• X-Celeprint will work with silicon photonics companies interested in licensing its technology

Click to read more ...