Abstract

Professor Ian White is one of the most prominent figures in the field of optoe- lectronics in Europe. Currently the Head of Photonic Research in the Engineering Department at Cambridge, he has published over 900 papers and holds 40 patents. He has made many notable innovations with immense commercial impact, such as the development of the first all-optical laser diode flip flop, the first negative chirp electroabsorption modulator, and the invention of the offset launch technique for enhancing the bandwidth of optical fibre links, which has been adopted within the Gigabit Ethernet standard. Through his renowned research career, Professor White holds a number of prestigious appointments, including Fellowship of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Deputy Vice Chancellor of the University and Master of Jesus College.

Optical communication technologies have had enormous impact on a very wide range of applications in recent years, particularly in respect of the internet, where the transmission of information over distance is relied on greatly. In recent years however, short-reach optical interconnects have recently attracted significant interest, due to the ever increasing demand for information capacity and the need for reduced energy consumption in large-scale high-performance electronic systems such as in data centres and supercomputers. Optical fibre technologies are now widely deployed in rack-to-rack communications as in such systems they can offer high-capacity low-power interconnections. Next generation supercomputers are expected to require even larger interconnection capacities. However, the cost-effective integration of optics into these future electronic systems constitutes a significant technological challenge. Following a general introduction to the impact of optical communications, this talk therefore will review recent progress in this important field.

Everyone is welcome. Free for members, £2 on the door for non-members. Followed by refreshments (that means smoothies, cheese and grapes!).