Photonics (optoelectronics) is currently undergoing great development. With the evolution of the Internet, high-speed, large-capacity, and highly efficient optical communication networks are becoming essential, and even in supercomputers and data centers, long-speed optical wiring of several to tens of gigabits per second is beginning to be used instead of electrical wiring.
Furthermore, the use of optical technology is progressing, such as imaging technology using laser light, various sensing technologies including medical and bio fields, and applications in the energy field, and this development is expected to continue in the future.
In particular, the vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) is an innovative optical device invented by Professor Emeritus Kenichi Iga of the Tokyo Institute of Technology, and has features such as extremely low power consumption and a two-dimensional array light source. This technology has opened up various new areas in the photonics field, such as short-distance communication, face recognition, OCT, and ultra-small atomic clocks. Optical integration technology based on VCSEL, micro-optical devices, optical micromachines, and silicon photonics is attracting attention as an important technology to eliminate the bottleneck of wideband optical communication networks.
This research group is working on research into surface-emitting lasers and optical devices, as well as the development of new optical systems, for a variety of fields, including high-speed, large-capacity optical communications, ultra-high-speed optical wiring, optical parallel processing, sensing using lasers, and wireless power supply systems using optical beams.
The main research topics of this research group are as follows.
- High-performance surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs)
- Integrated photonics devices
- Photonic MEMS devices
- Optical routers and related technologies for all-optical networks
- Optical wireless power transmission systems and related technologies
The Photonics Integration System Research Core was established in the Laboratory for Future Interdisciplinary Research of Science and Technology (FIRST), Tokyo Institute of Technology in fiscal year 2016 (April 1, 2016). Furthermore, taking over the efforts of its predecessor, the Photonics Integration System Research Center of the Precision and Intelligence Laboratory, the core continues to work energetically to further develop research at the Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Finally, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to former Tokyo Institute of Technology Presidents Kenichi Iga and Yasuharu Suematsu for their generous support in promoting this research. We would also like to express our deep gratitude for the research grants from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology and the cooperation of our collaborative research companies.
October 1, 2024