Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Integrated Photonics

Dr Andrea M Armani

Mork Family Dept of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science,University of Southern California, USA

11:30 am Wednesday, 11 December 2013
EN101 Lecture Theatre (EN Building), Hawthorn.

Abstract:
Integrated photonics offers a potential alternative to integrated electronics, with reduced heating and faster data rates.  However, to achieve many of the desired performance metrics, it is necessary to combine disparate material systems which is extremely difficult due to a wide variety of reasons often including different lattice constants, thermal expansion coefficients, and refractive indices.  Therefore, new materials and material systems are desired.  One approach is to combine the optical materials conventionally used in telecommunications, such as silica, silicon and lithium niobate, with polymeric materials.  These hybrid systems offer optical and mechanical properties which are not attainable with conventional material systems, such as athermal performance.  This talk will present an overview of the integrated hybrid photonic device research in the Armani Lab, including athermal resonant cavities with quality factors in excess of 10 million.  Additionally, new research exploring bio-hybrid devices for communications will be presented.

Biography:
Andrea Armani received her BA in physics from the University of Chicago (2001) and her PhD in applied physics with a minor in biology from the California Institute of Technology (2007), where she continued as the Clare Boothe Luce post-doctoral Fellow in biology and chemical engineering.  She is currently the Fluor Early Career Chair in Engineering and an Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science and Electrical Engineering-Electrophysics in the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California.  Armani has received several awards, including the Sigma Xi award for excellence in research (2001), the Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Award (2009), the Technology Review Top 35 Innovators under 35 (2009), the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE, 2009), and the NIH Director's New Innovator's Award (2010).