Photonics on a Silicon Chip, Michal Lipson

Photonics on a silicon chip could enable a platform for monolithic integration of optics and microelectronics for applications of optical interconnects in which high data streams are required in a small footprint. In this talk I will review the challenges and achievement in the field of silicon photonics. Using highly confined photonic structures one can enhance the electro-optical and non-linearities properties of Silicon and enable ultra-compact and low power photonic components with very low loss. We have recently demonstrated several active components including GHz electro-optic low power switches and modulators, all-optical amplifiers and wavelength converters on silicon.

Michal Lipson is an Associate Professor at the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca NY. Prior to this appointment, she was a postdoctoral associate at the Department of Material Science and Engineering at MIT, following her Ph.D. in Physics at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on novel on-chip Nanophotonics devices. She holds several patents on novel micron-size photonic structures for light manipulation, and is the author of over 100 technical papers in journals in Physics and Optics.
Professor Lipson’s honors and awards include OSA Fellow, IEEE Senior Member, IBM Faculty Award, and NSF Early Career Award. More information on Professor Lipson can be found at nanophotonics.ece.cornell.edu.

Impact of optical communications in developing countries, Samia Melhem

This session will offer a different look on optical technologies, focusing on development impact rather than technologies. Presenter will describe current impact assessments on development in some of the countries where access to broadband is still a challenge from an infrastructure and a cost viewpoint, focusing on lessons learnt for donors at the macro and micro level, based on different access and village connectivity experiments using latest broadband technologies. This session will also describe on-going World Bank Group initiatives and projects with a significant infrastructure/broadband access component.

Samia Melhem is a Senior Operations Officer in the Global ICT Policy division at the World Bank Group. She is a member of the eGovernment practice group, and the chair of the edevelopment Thematic Group. Her current responsibilities include Technical Assistance and advisory services on ICT Policies and ICT in public sector reform as well as to lead knowledge sharing and dissemination of experiences for the edevelopment community of practice. Her experience is focused on ICT applications for development, in a wide variety of sectors from Telecoms Policy and regulation, to Public Sector reform, Trade, Education, Knowledge Economy, and private sector development. In her last 19 years in the WBG, Samia has held several positions in Africa , Middle East and East and Central Europe regions as well as in Infrastructure and Sustainable Development Networks. Her expertise is mostly in planning, developing and implementing large scale information systems for governments, and on using ICT as a tool to support public administration reform. She managed a large tax computerization and customs automation project in the Philippines; as well as several distance education projects in MNA and Africa, three ICT development projects in Middle East and North Africa, and several research pieces on potential of ICT for growth and competitiveness. She has also been managing the GICT Knowledge and Learning program since 2000. She holds degrees in Electrical engineering (BSEE in 1985), Computer sciences (MS in 1988) and MBA in Finance (2005). She had training on project management, finance, procurement, change management and organizational development.

Evolution of Photonic Network Technologies: FTTH, NGN, and Beyond, Kazuo Hagimoto

This presentation introduces the current situation and some progress that will take place in the near future concerning photonic networks in Japan. Initially this presentation will cover the changes to the infrastructure. Japan widely has deployed photonic networks such as Fiber To The Home (FTTH), and ROADMs, and OXCs are currently under development and under field test trials. Along with these advancements, the bandwidth requirements for commercial optical transmission systems have increased to the point where they must exceed 1 Tbps to support massive broadband applications. The presentation will then cover the impact of the changes in services and applications on the networks. We have used simple network applications such as E-mail or web browsing since the beginning of commercial Internet services, and have enjoyed rich broadband applications such as Google and YouTube. In the near future, we will be advancing to Next Generation Network (NGN) services. The presentation will also cover the changes in new information devices and home appliances, for example, large flat panel displays that enable us to enjoy high definition videos at home. In regard to broadcast television, terrestrial analog broadcasting will have come to a close by 2011, and digital TV broadcasting has already been initiated. We also have digital videos that are easily available through the broadband environment. This kind of new application and service requires a massive bandwidth and a high level QoS, which will be available in the NGN and later. Changes such as these will be a boost in developing photonic network technology toward petabit/s networks. This kind of technique illustrates one of the innovative and exciting directions for research and development in photonic network technologies.

Kazuo Hagimoto received the B.S. and M.S. degrees in physical electronics engineering from the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Tokyo, Japan, in 1978 and 1980, respectively. Yokohama, Japan and a general co-chair of OAA'94 in Colorado. He received the Sakurai Memorial Prize from the Optoelectronic Industry and Technology Development Association in 1989, the Oliver Lodge premium from the IEE in 1991, the Kenjiro Takayanagi memorial award in 1994, the achievement award from IEICE in 1994, a best paper award of first Optoelectronics and Communications Conference (OECC'96) in 1996, and Maejima Award TEISHIN association in 2007.