Photonics devices which can be fabricated by using the same truth of microelectronics: smaller, cheaper and faster; this is silicon photonics. In details silicon photonics will allow you:

• to make thousands of photonic devices integrated in a few cm square which are able to transmit signal over long distances and at high speed;
• to integrate in CMOS an entire optical network which handles tens of channels and routes them all across an electronic chip;
• to fabricate an entire bio-lab with the size of a nail;
• to develop solar cells with conversion efficiency beyond the thermodynamic limit of silicon cells.

These are a few examples where the silicon photonics paradigm has shown all its potential. In this talk, I will introduce the technology, its potential and discuss its applications in the datacom, life science, green-ITC and consumer markets.

Suggested readings:
Silicon Nanocrystals; Fundamentals, Synthesis and Applications edited by L. Pavesi and R. Turan (Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH, Berlin 2010)
Silicon Photonics, edited by L. Pavesi and D. Lockwood, Topics in Applied Physics vol. 94 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2004)
Silicon photonics II edited by D. Lockwood and L. Pavesi, Topics in Applied Physics, Vol. 119 (Springer-Verlag, Berlin 2011)


Monday, May 3, 2010, 12:00. ICFO’s Auditorium

Hosted by Prof. Valerio Pruneri