Wim Bogaerts - PhotonICSWARM

 Wim BogaertsWim Bogaerts graduated in engineering (applied physics) at Ghent University in June 1998. He joined the Photonics Research Group of Ghent University-IMEC for a PhD, building the design and technology foundations for IMEC's first silicon photonics technology platform on 200mm CMOS tools. This led to collaborations with tens of partners, growing into a silicon photonics multi-project-wafer service in IMEC, eventually known as ePIXfab. To enable the design of these photonic chips, the PI and his group developed the software package IPKISS, a parametric design framework for photonic circuits.

In 2010, Wim became Professor at Ghent University, specializing in advanced design methodologies for integrated photonics, tackling the challenges that form the design gap for silicon photonics. With the growing industrial interest in silicon photonics, this know-how became ever more relevant for a larger community. In June 2014, he co-founded Luceda Photonics, a Ghent University - IMEC- VUB spin-off to bring the IPKISS software and other advanced design tools to the rapidly growing photonics market.

With Luceda Photonics successfully established in the Integrated photonics market, he returned full-time to his fundamental research interest. Since October 2016, the PI is again full-time at Ghent University and IMEC with a growing research activity in large-scale silicon photonics and programmable photonic circuits.

Wim is a very strong adept of Agile and Lean philosophies, with a passion to apply them to the peculiar ecosystem of academic research, as well as to his personal life.

Prof. Bogaerts is co-author of over 200 publications in the field of silicon photonics and design methodologies, including many invitations to international conferences. He holds several patents in the field of photonics and its applications. He is a member of IEEE, OSA, SPIE and the Scrum Alliance.

Contact:

Publications: https://biblio.ugent.be/person/801001267525

 

Photonic Integrated Circuits using Scattered Waveguide elements in an Adaptive, Reconfigurable Mesh (PhotonICSWARM)

PhotonICSWARM logo

 

In the PhotonICSWARM project, we will build Photonic Integrated Circuits using Scattered Waveguide elements in an Adaptive, Reconfigurable Mesh. By routing optical signals on a silicon photonics chip along many parallel paths, automatically configured using self-learning electronic feedback loops, it will be possible to implement larger circuits with much more complex functionality. It will also make circuits more useful for different applications, resilient against point failures of single elements, and upgradable for future functions.

PhotonICSWARM

PhotonICSWARM will use silicon photonics technology to build large-scale photonic integrated circuits. These combine many optical functions on a chip. However, in contrast with today’s silicon photonic circuits which guide light along a single path on the chip, PhotonICSWARM  will explore architectures where light is guided along many paths at the same time, splitting, recombining and coupling multiple times to perform the desired optical function. There are many possible implementations of such architectures based on interferometric and resonant optical structures. However, they will all require active electrical control of many (thousands of) optical elements. PhotonICSWARM also explored the control algorithms and feedback loops that will govern such optical circuits, inspired by natural behavior of flocks, swarms or bacterial cultures.