World-Renowned Experts In Optical Communications, Photodetection And Light Trapping To Headline 2021 OSA Advanced Photonics Congress

The latest developments in integrated photonics and their applications will be discussed at the virtual 2021 OSA Advanced Photonics Congress 26 – 30 July. The event, comprised of five topical meetings, will feature presentations on photonic device research and development and their use in networks, and cross-cutting topics such as quantum science, free space communications, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning. Technical sessions will be presented live from the Eastern Daylight Time Zone (EDT).

The congress will showcase the following distinguished speakers: Eli Yablonovitch, director of the NSF Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science (E3S) at University of California, Berkeley, USA; Shanhui Fan, professor of electrical engineering and director of the Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory at Stanford University, USA; Anna Fontcuberta i Morral, professor at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and head of the Laboratory of Semiconductor Materials; and Son Thai Le, optical transmission systems researcher at Nokia Bell Labs.

The “Forty Years of Light Management” symposium on Wednesday, 28 July at 10:30 EDT features Yablonovitch as keynote speaker. Experts will review different light trapping techniques developed in the past decades and discuss how the field has evolved. In his talk, Yablonovitch will describe the use of light trapping in commercial solar panels and challenges with increasing the internal optical path length.

The plenary sessions are scheduled for Monday, 26 July and Thursday, 29 July. On Monday at 11:00 EDT, Fan will present “Photonic Structures: From Topological Physics to Optical Computing.” His research focuses on fundamental studies of solid state and photonic structures and devices, especially photonic crystals, plasmonics, and meta-materials and applications in energy and information technology.

Creating alternative and sustainable compound semiconductor solar cells will be the topic of discussion for Morral’s talk on “New Materials and Structures for Photodetection,” which will be presented Monday, 26 July at 12:00 EDT. She will explain how nanostructures provide a path to increase light collection, provide some parameters for optimal devices, and describe ways in which these materials can be fabricated with high crystal quality to support development of solar cells.

On Thursday, 29 July at 18:30 EDT, Le will present a talk titled “Progress on Optical Single-sideband Transmission.” He will review recent progress of optical single sideband (SSB) modulation for data center interconnects, optical network monitoring, and 5G mobile fronthaul and other applications. He will also discuss its potential for commercialization in the near future.

The five topical meetings focus on Integrated Photonics Research, Silicon and Nanophotonics; Novel Optical Materials and Applications; Optical Devices and Materials for Solar Energy and Solid-state Lighting; Photonic Networks and Devices; and Signal Processing in Photonic Communications.

Conference registration (https://www.osa.org/en-us/meetings/osa_meetings/advanced_photonics_congress/registration/) is currently open. All registrants will receive access to the Technical Digest, the live technical sessions and recorded/archived content.

About The Optical Society
The Optical Society (OSA) is dedicated to promoting the generation, application, archiving, and dissemination of knowledge in optics and photonics worldwide. Founded in 1916, it is the leading organization for scientists, engineers, business professionals, students and others interested in the science of light. OSA’s renowned publications, meetings, online resources, and in-person activities fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate scientific, technical and educational achievement.