Next Generation of Silicon Photonics

ABSTRACT

In the past decade, the photonic community has witnessed a complete transformation of optics. We are now able to define and control the flow of light using thousands of monolithically integrated optical components – all on a silicon chip. The main drive for silicon photonics is the ability to transmit and manipulate ultra-high bandwidth with low power dissipation. Today there are hundreds of products being developed and commercialized towards this goal. The field of silicon photonics is rapidly evolving and is now enabling completely new applications. I will discuss these emerging applications, as well as the challenges of the field.

BIOGRAPHY

Prof. Michal Lipson is the Eugene Higgins Professor at Columbia University. Her research focus is on Nanophotonics and includes the investigation of novel phenomena, as well as the development of novel devices and applications. Prof. Lipson pioneered critical building blocks in the field of Silicon Photonics, which today is recognized as one of the most promising directions for solving the major bottlenecks in microelectronics. She is the inventor of over 45 issued patents and has co-authored more than 250 scientific publications. In recognition of her work in silicon photonics, she was elected as a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her numerous awards include the NAS Comstock Prize in Physics, the MacArthur Fellowship, the Blavatnik Award, Optica’s R. W. Wood Prize, the John Tyndall Award, the IEEE Photonics Award, and an honorary degree from Trinity College, University of Dublin. She was elected the 2021 Vice President of Optica, formerly known as The Optical Society, and then served as the President of Optica in 2023. Since 2014, every year she has been named by Thomson Reuters as a top 1% highly cited researcher in the field of Physics.