March 13, 2019: Professor Hong Tang (School of Engineering & Applied Physics, Yale University) presented a Kavli Distinguished Lecture entitled "Integrated χ(2) Photonics."

Abstract: The ability to generate and manipulate photons with high efficiency and coherence is of critical importance for both fundamental quantum optics studies and practical device applications. However mainstream integrated photonic platforms such as those based on silicon and silicon nitride lack the preferred cubic χ(2) nonlinearity, which limits active photon control functionalities. In this talk, I will present integrated photonics based on aluminum nitride (AlN), whose wurtzite crystal structure gives rise to the strong second-order optical nonlinearity and piezoelectric effect. Together with its low optical and mechanical losses, the integrated AlN photonics can provide enhanced χ(2) photon-photon interactions to achieve high fidelity photon control, including on-chip parametric down-conversion, coherent light conversion, spectral-temporal shaping, and microwave-to-optical frequency conversions.

This event was hosted by the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering and by the Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science.