Research

Chip-based integrated photonics can tightly confine light in waveguides with low propagation loss, providing unprecedentedly efficient access to nonlinear optical phenomena. We use such nonlinear effects to create novel light sources, including the synthesis of ultrashort optical pulses with ultra-high repetition rate and broadband spectra from ultra-violet to infrared wavelengths. Integrated photonics chips, much like computer chips, can be fabricated in large numbers at low cost, which positions them as an emerging high-impact technology. Potential and emerging applications for such integrated photonic light sources range from boosting the transmission of fiber-based optical communication and optical computing to ultrafast optical bio-sensing or even contributing to searches for extra-solar planets.

 

Our current research topics are:

 

Microresonator sources for utrashort pulses and frequency combs (microcombs) with high repetition rate.

Nonlinear waveguides: Light synthesis from ultraviolet to infrared wavelengths.

Novel methods and emerging applications: From astro-photonics to trace gas sensing.