Events Calendar

Teaching Silicon New Tricks

Bahram JalaliUniversity of California, Los AngelesAbstract:
Conventional wisdom holds that silicon cannot amplify light and what's worse, it has no useful nonlinearities so it cannot manipulate light. Taking this axiom as a motivation rather than a deterrent, several research groups, including mine, have been on a crusade to prove it wrong and to unleash the mighty silicon photonics technology. We've been partially successful! This talk will elucidate the relevant physics that determines silicon's prospect as an active optical medium. It will review the recent breakthroughs based on nonlinear optics in silicon, including optical amplification, lasing, wavelength conversion, energy harvesting, and a new class of devices based on nonlinear optics in multi-mode waveguides. It will close with a previously unforeseen, yet exciting application of silicon photonics: THz real-time analog-to-digital conversion.Biography:
Bahram Jalali is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, the and the Director of the Optoelectronic Circuits and System Laboratory at UCLA. From 1988-1992, he was a Member of Technical Staff at the Physics Research Division of AT&T Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, N.J. where he conducted research on ultrafast electronics and optoelectronics. His current research interests are in silicon photonics and ultrafast photonic signal processing.Dr. Jalali has published over 200 scientific papers in and holds 6 US patents. He is a Fellow of IEEE and of Optical Society of America (OSA) and the Chair of the Los Angeles Chapter of the IEEE Lasers and Electro Optics Society (LEOS). In 2005, he was chosen by the Scientific American Magazine as the 50 Leaders Shaping the Future of Technology. He is a member of the California Nano Systems Institute (CNSI).While on leave from UCLA from 1999-2001, Dr. Jalali founded Cognet Microsystems, a Los Angeles based fiber optic component company. He served as Company's CEO, President and Chairman, from the company's inception through its acquisition by Intel Corporation in April 2001. He has received the BridgeGate 20 Award for his contribution to the southern California economy. From 2001-2004, he served as a consultant to Intel Corporation. Dr. Jalali serves on the Board of Trustees of the California Science Center.

Location: Hedco Neurosciences Building (HNB) - 100

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Ericka Lieberknecht