[PL] Plenary Talks

[Plenary Talk 3] Progress in InP-based Photonic Integration

〇Meint K. Smit (Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands)

The application market for Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) is rapidly growing. Photonic Integration is the dominant technology in high bandwidth and long-distance tele-communications and is increasingly applied in shorter distances and within data centers. It is set to become dominant in many other fields of photonics. PICs offer compelling performance advances in terms of precision, bandwidth and energy efficiency. To enable uptake in new sectors, the availability of highly standardized (generic) photonic integration platform technologies is of key importance as this separates design from technology, reducing barriers for new entrants. Another major challenge is low-cost and energy-efficient integration of photonics with the electronic circuitry that is used for driving and controlling the photonic IC and processing its information. The major platform technologies today are Indium Phosphide (InP)-based monolithic integration and Silicon Photonics. InP-based technology offers integration of the full suite of photonic components, including lasers, optical amplifiers and high-performance modulators. In this paper we describe the current status and future developments of InP-based generic integration and we discuss the potential of InP-based Photonics for integration with electronics.

Bio:Meint K. Smit started research in photonic integration in 1981. He invented the Arrayed Waveguide Grating, a key component in modern WDM systems, for which he received a LEOS Technical Achievement award in 1997. He was closely involved in the introduction of MMI-couplers, which are key components in Photonic ICs. In 2000 he became the leader of the Photonic Integration group at the COBRA Research Institute of TU Eindhoven. His current research interests are in InP-based Photonic Integration and integration of InP circuitry on Silicon. He is the founder of the JePPIX platform, the Joint European Platform for Photonic Integration of Components and Circuits and strongly involved in the development of the InP-based photonic foundry system in Europe. Meint Smit is an IEEE Fellow. In 2012 he received an ERC Advanced Grant and in 2016 the Rank Prize for Optoelectronics.