Sharon M. Weiss On-chip photonic devices are poised to continue transforming capabilities across multiple market sectors, including data center transceivers, optical interconnects, LiDAR, and immunoassays. The ability to scalably manufacture on-chip photonic components alongside traditional silicon CMOS microelectronic components is a key advantage of integrated photonics technology. However, one of the challenges facing on-chip integration of silicon photonic components is the considerable size-scale difference between photonic and electronic components. Many efforts over the past several years have demonstrated it is possible to reduce the footprint of some photonic components by utilizing subwavelength engineering, leading not only to more compact devices but also new functionalities. In this talk, I will present an overview of the current status of on-chip photonic devices, along with recent advances in scalable fabrication of subwavelength photonic technology and the exciting new optical properties enabled by subwavelength engineering of photonic crystals.
Sharon Weiss is a Cornelius Vanderbilt Chair in Engineering and Professor of Electrical Engineering, Physics, and Materials Science at Vanderbilt University. She also serves as Director of the Vanderbilt Institute of Nanoscale Science and Engineering. Prof. Weiss received her Ph.D. degree from the Institute of Optics at the University of Rochester. Her research group primarily focuses on silicon photonics for optical communication and optical biosensing, as well as hybrid and nanocomposite material systems. Prof. Weiss is a Fellow of SPIE and OSA and has been awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, National Science Foundation CAREER award, Army Research Office Young Investigator Award, and IEEE Photonics Society Distinguished Lecturer award.