“Photonic Chips in Everything” Draws Hundreds of International Guests
November 30th, 2023 marked the 25th annual Photonics Center symposium, which every year invites members of the photonics and optics fields to learn, present, and connect with colleagues from around the educational and industrial world. This year, Associate Professor Miloš Popović (ECE) hosted the event, with an industry focus on “Photonic Chips in Everything: Emerging Applications and Materials in Silicon Photonics Integrated Circuits.”
What are Silicon PICs? Photonics Integrated Circuits are likely something everyone owns in some technology or other: smartphones, laptops, microwaves––the everyday amenities of modern day life. Using light over electricity as a form of power, the application of photonics chip is one with a wide variety.
Starting off with opening remarks from Dean Elise Morgan, the Photonic Center’s 25th annual symposium featured ten speakers, as well as a panel discussion featuring said speakers, the Photonics Center symposium shed light on a number of these varying topics within the field of integrated circuits. Some topics included: “Scaling Photonic Quantum Computers” from Zachary Vernon of Xandau; “Going Beyond Moore’s Law: Electronic-Photonic Systems-on-Chip for Compute, Communications and Sensing” from Vladimir Stojanovic of UC Berkeley and Ayar Labs; “Broadening the Spectrum: Silicon Photonics Beyond the Telecom Wavelengths” from Joyce Poon of the Max Planck Institute and University of Toronto; and “Silicon Photonics, A Foundry Perspective” from Ted Letavic of GlobalFoundries.
Additionally, special guest Chris Miller, economic historian and author of Chip War: The Fight for the World’s Most Critical Technology, gave a brief presentation during lunch to discuss the contents of his book and how it related to the larger discussion of photonic integrated circuits. Namely, how several countries around the world are vying for chip building and import superiority. These chip risks, as well achievements, blended well into the conversation topics of the other presenters, as well as the panel session that ran later on.
Following the panel discussion, there was a reception and poster presentation shared on the seventh floor atrium of the Photonics Center building. There, student researchers were able to share their progress and goals as future leaders of the field, and connect with the many industry professionals in attendance.
With a packed house of international guests and aspiring industry change-makers in STEM, the Photonics Center’s 25th annual symposium proved to be yet another success in bringing together learners and leaders in optics and photonics, and the world of photonic chips.