Integrated photonics is a nascent technology that integrates complex optical circuits and systems at chip scale. Much like how integrated electronics revolutionized the electronics industry over the last 60+ years, photonic circuits enable the next leap in circuity. Dr Keith Powell and the Loncar lab are developing lithium tantalate electro-optic modulators to deliver ultra-fast processing with significantly reduced power consumption and resistive/heat losses. During his year as a Grid Fellow, he will lead de-risking experimentation in the lab as well as build a commercial plan to develop, test, and pilot novel photonic circuits.

 

Keith is a postdoctoral fellow in Professor Marko Loncar’s group at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. Keith received this PhD and Bachelor’s in electrical engineering from the University of Sydney. During his PhD, he developed new fabrication processes for etching, bonding and annealing cubic silicon carbide (3C-SiC) on insulators. The work paved the way towards a world first demonstration of an electro-optic modulator in 3C-SiC operating a GHz frequencies.