Integrated photonics has the potential to greatly reduce the size, weight, and power (SWaP) while improving the performance and reliability of photonic systems. This technology has already impacted telecommunications and is expected to transform data center communications, high performance computing, microwave photonics, and sensing. This talk will describe examples of integrated photonic technologies being developed in our research group and also discuss a novel application for integrated photonics, namely, space optical communications.

Graphene, a monolayer of carbon atoms forming a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice structure, is considered a wonder material for both scientific research and technological applications since its successful isolation in 2004. As a flexible, transparent conductor with intrinsically very high electrical mobility and thermal conductivity, graphene is promising for large-area electronic devices such as touch screen displays, electrodes for photovoltaic cells, interconnects for electrical circuits, and panels for light emitting diodes.

Capacity growth in communication and sensor networks suggests order of magnitude increases over the next decade. To satisfy this growth, wireless and optical network technologies will increase spectral efficiency through a combination of signal processing and device improvements. At millimeter-wave bands, high-order modulation such as quadrature-amplitude modulation (QAM) is critical for backhaul links at the expense of higher peak-to-average power ratios. Similarly, coherent optical detection techniques for QPSK in 40/100 GbE optical networks have gained industry acceptance.

What can we expect from rooftop photovoltaic arrays on our homes, businesses, and public buildings?  What are the opportunities and challenges we face as we look to America’s brownfields – waste sites and other industrial properties – to extend solar power’s reach? And how shall we reckon with the prospects and pitfalls of building utility-scale solar plants on our farmlands and natural open spaces?

Moore’s Law has set great expectations that the performance/price ratio of commercially available semiconductor devices will continue to improve exponentially at least until the end of this decade. Although the physics of nanoscale silicon transistors alone could allow these expectations to (almost) be met, the physics of the metal wires that connect these transistors places stringent limits on the performance of integrated circuits.

Southern California Edison is working to help achieve California’s ambitious carbon reduction goals by modernizing its distribution system to be flexible, adaptable and capable of two-way electrical flows to better integrate distributed energy resources – such as demand side management (Energy Efficiency/Demand Response), rooftop solar, electric vehicles and energy storage – while maintaining the reliability, safety, and power quality customers count on.

President Obama is setting up National Networks for Manufacturing Institutes and UCSB is the West Coast hub for the American Institute on Manufacturing Integrated Photonics (AIM Photonics). This Institute is focused on developing an end-to-end integrated photonics ecosystem in the U.S., including domestic foundry access, integrated design tools, automated packaging, assembly and test, and workforce development.

Data centers are driving the development of next-generation photonic technologies with the promise of higher performance at lower cost. Worldwide research encompasses multi- and single-mode links, all-photonic switching and routing technologies, and hybrid networks combining electrical and optical switching. 

Renewable and ultra-low emissions and high efficiency energy conversion systems will be required to introduce energy resource and environmental sustainability. Next generation power systems must be designed for dynamic dispatch to complement the intermittencies of renewable power, which must be increasingly utilized. The complex interactions of the heat transfer, chemistry, electrochemistry, and fluid dynamics must be considered in the design and control of dispatchable power systems such as gas turbine, fuel cell and hybrid fuel cell gas turbine systems.

Solar cells based on the perovskite-structured light absorber CH3NH3PbI3 have recently emerged at the forefront of solution-processable photovoltaic devices, with power conversion efficiencies as high as 20.1% having now been certified. In this presentation, I will discuss our research group’s work in the area of perovskite solar cells. Our early work demonstrated that room temperature solution-processing techniques can be used to prepare devices on flexible substrates while retaining excellent power conversion efficiencies.