Photonics

Description:
Photonics is the science of light; it is the technology of generating and harnessing light and other forms of radiant energy whose quantum unit is the photon. The science includes light emission, transmission, deflection, amplification and detection by optical components and instruments, lasers and other light sources, fibre optics, electro-optical instrumentation, related hardware and electronics, and sophisticated systems.  

Applications:
Powering the world with low cost, environment friendly, high efficiency concentrated solar cells; enabling broadband information access (internet, telephony, cable) for all; communicating sound, vision and touch over optical networks; sensing and measuring the world... The range of applications of photonics extends from the communications and entertainment systems in our homes to uses in biology, quantum computation, energy generation, medicine and environmental sensing.

PROFESSORS:

• Anis, Hanan
  passive optical networks, femtosecond fibre lasers, Raman spectroscopy, optical biosensors
• Berini, Pierre
  surface plasmons and their applications
• Hall (group) 
  photonic technologies for materials, devices and components; photonic networks and switches; optical interconnects
• Hinzer, Karin
  photonic device integration, highly efficient solar cells, nanostructures,  new wavelength sources
• Schriemer, Henry
  engineered photonic nanosystems
• Yao (group)
  microwave photonics, fibre optics

Research groups involving several professors:

• Centre for Research in Photonics at the University of Ottawa (CRPuO)
• Photonic Technology Laboratory (PTL)

Leadership:

• The Microwave Photonics Research Laboratory pioneered the concept of Ultra-Wideband (UWB) over Fiber, by demonstrating innovative techniques to generate and distribute Ultra-Wideband signals over optical fiber (Jianping Yao).

Some recent projects:

• Yao : UWB over fiber technologies [NSERC Special Research Opportunity grant]; Miniaturized sensor interrogator for air vehicle structural health monitoring [CIPI TEN]; Infrastructures for broadband access in wireless/photonics [European project]; Millimeter-wave photonic techniques for broadband communication and sensor applications [NSERC Strategic grant]; Photonic true time-delay phased array beamforming [Intern.Creative Res. Award, uOttawa]; All-optical software-defined radio transceiver at mm-wave frequencies [CIPI-TEN]; Broadband radio-over-fiber systems for hybrid optical/wireless access networks [CIPI]; Photonic microwave/millimeter-wave signal generation [NCIT]; Photonic true time-delay phased array beamforming for broadband wireless access networks [NSERC Discovery Grant]
• Berini : Fabrication of surface plasmon waveguides on membranes [OCE]; Sensing using long-range surface plasmons [CPFR]; Integrated optics using surface plasmons [NSERC];
• Hinzer : III-V semiconductor photonic device integration on Group-IV substrates (OANET) [funded by Centre for Photonics Fabrication Research; Partners: Cyrium Technologies, NRC]; Semiconductor optical amplifier solutions to optical access networks [Partner: OneChip Photonics]
• Schriemer : Monolithically integrated 1x2 optical switch [funded by CMC Microsystems]; Nanowire quantum dot arrays [OCE, PRO, OPC; Partner: Semiconductor Insights]; Building blocks for next-generation monolithic photonic integrated circuits in InP-based material system [CMC Microsystems; Partner: OneChip Photonics]
• Hall : Intelligent control and development of fast reconfigurable optical add-drop modules in an agile metro-network environment [Partners: Photonics Control, Metrophotonics, OneChip Photonics, BTI Systems, Communications Research Center (CRC)]; Hapto-audio-visual environments for collaborative tele-surgery training over photonic networking (HAVE) [CANARIE; industrial partner: BigBangwidth]; Interworking of AAPN with legacy networks [funded by AAPN (an NSERC research network) & JDSU]; Next-generation photonic transport technology [OCE & Metconnex Inc.]; Scalable low-cost optoelectronic packet switch for access & LANs [CITO Technical Readiness]; Photonic networks: Flexible bandwidth provision, self-similar structure, & intelligent processing [NSERC Discovery Grant];
• Anis : Cost-efficient solutions for broadband access: TDM-PON, WDM-PON & TDM/WDM-PON [OCE Research Partnership; Partner: BTI Systems]; Passive optical networks [Partner: Flextronics]