Imran Avci (VU): RAPID PHOTONICS

Imran Avci (VU): RAPID PHOTONICS: Low-cost and fast prototyping of photonic integrated circuits

Did you see a picture of the first computer? It was as big as a large room. Nowadays we can carry our computers even in our pockets. This was made possible by integrating electronic components into microchips. In a similar way we can also integrate optical components into microchips and make them cheaper,faster and smaller. These devices are called photonic integrated circuits and we have been using them in communication, medical diagnostics, biological/environmental sensing, lidar applications and in many more fields.

However, the main challenge is the fabrication cost and lead time of photonic integrated circuit prototypes that hinders their wide deployment. We developed a new fabrication technique that will revolutionize the photonic circuit prototyping: 100 times cheaper, 10 times faster prototyping.  Our goal is to bring this technology within reach for companies, universities, research institutes and exploit the great potential of photonic integrated circuits. We believe that the photons will rule the tomorrow’s applications.