John Bowers

Research

John Bowers is interested in energy efficiency and the development of novel low power optoelectronic devices for the next generation of optical networks. His research interests include silicon photonics and integrated circuits, fiber optic networks, thermoelectrics, high efficiency solar cells, and optical switching. Optical switches have the potential to reduce the energy required to switch data by factor of 10,000. Silicon photonics have the potential to reduce the energy require to transmit data on and off chips by a factor of ten or more. A recent collaboration with Intel led to the development of hybrid silicon lasers, which led to a prototype 50 Gbps high-speed optical data link, which is integrated onto silicon.

Affiliations

Institute for Energy Efficiency, Former Director
American Institute for Manufacturing (AIM) Integrated Photonics, Deputy Director
Silicon Photonics Center, Director
Interdisciplinary Center for Wide Bandgap Semiconductors, Member
Solid-State Lighting & Energy Center, Member
National Academy of Engineering, Member

Biography

John Bowers is the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of the American Institute for Manufacturing (AIM) Integrated Photonics. John focuses on developing the West Coast portion of AIM and on developing integrated lasers onto the platform.  He is a Distinguished Professor in the Departments of Materials and Electrical and Computer Engineering at UCSB and holds the Fred Kavli Chair in Nanotechnology.  He is the Director of the Institute for Energy Efficiency. He is a cofounder of Aurrion, Aerius Photonics and Calient Networks. Dr. Bowers is a member of the National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Inventors, a fellow of the IEEE, OSA and the American Physical Society, and a recipient of the IEEE Photonics Award, OSA Tyndall Award, the OSA Holonyak Prize, and the IEEE LEOS William Streifer Award.

 

Honors

2024 IEEE Jun-ichi Nishizawa Medal

2017 Central Coast Innovation Award

2015 National Academy of Investors 

2012 UCSB Faculty Research Lecturer 

2012 OSA/IEEE Tyndall Award

2009 OSA Nick Holonyak, Jr. Award

2007 ACE Award for Most Promising Technology

2007 IEEE Transactions on Components and Packaging Technologies Best Paper of 2006 Award

2006 Discover Magazine list of top 100 achievements

2006 PC World Technical Excellence Award for Best Semiconductor Technology 

2005 National Academy of Engineering 

2002 Optical Society of America (OSA), Fellow

2001 South Coast Business and Technology Entrepreneur of the Year 

1996 American Physical Society, Fellow

1996 IEEE Leos William Streifer Award

1995 Board of Governors, IEEE Lasers and Electro-optics Society 

1994 IEEE, Fellow

1992 IEEE, Distinguished Lecturer

1988 NSF, Presidential Young Investigator 

 

Education

B.S.: Physics, University of Minnesota (1976)
M.S.: Applied Physics, Stanford University (1978)
Ph.D.: Applied Physics, Stanford Univeristy (1981)
Postdoctal Researcher: Ginzton Laboratory, Stanford University (1981-1982)

More Info

John has published eight book chapters, 450 journal papers, 700 conference papers and has received 52 patents