CREOL Spring Colloquium: Aref Chowdhury. Lightwave Logic

Fri, 10 Apr 2026 11:00:00 -0400

Title: Electro-Optic Polymers for High-Speed Datacenter Connectivity

Abstract: The rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has placed unprecedented demands on datacenter interconnects. Deployments of 1.6 Tb/s transceivers at 200 Gb/s per lane are slated to occur later this year in 2026. Current solutions for these transceivers are primarily based on silicon photonics and indium phosphide, but both these standalone materials are approaching fundamental bandwidth limits that limit scaling to higher bit rates. In this talk, we will discuss the advancements of high-performance electro-optic polymers, particularly that of Perkinamine® as a transformative polymer material system. By incorporating Perkinamine® on a silicon photonics platform, we demonstrate modulators capable of sub-1V drive voltages, bandwidths exceeding 100 GHz, and CMOS-compatibility thus enabling seamless integration into standard semiconductor foundry processes. We will also discuss results of the thermal stability and long-term reliability that are essential for commercialization.

About the Speaker: Aref Chowdhury is currently Chief Technology Officer (CTO) & Head of Strategy at Lightwave Logic, Prior to his current role, he was at Nokia where he served in numerous positions including Member of Technical Staff in Optical Physics Research at Bell Labs, Senior Manager of Intellectual Property and Standards, CTO Optics, and finally Vice President Strategy & CTO of Network Infrastructure. He received his Bachelor of Engineering from the State University of New York at Stony Brook in 1994 in electrical engineering and applied mathematics & statistics, and Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2001. He is a recipient of the MIT TR100 Young Innovator Award, a Bell Labs Fellow and an Optica Fellow.