Professor Mike Wale and Dr Zhixin Liu from the Photonics Group, Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering from UCL visited AOG on 28 January 2025, and delivered a presentation between 2 - 3 pm, in SIBLT1 room, University of Kent.
Introduction to Photonics at UCL and Low noise, tunable frequency comb and its potential in full-field signal detection
Talk 1: Prof. Mike Wale
Title: Introduction to Photonics at UCL
A short introduction to the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL, with specific focus on research underway in the Photonics Group.
Talk 2: Dr Zhixin Liu
Title: Low noise, tunable frequency comb and its potential in full-field signal detection
Frequency combs are light sources composed of optical tones with equal frequency spacing, with varying degrees of phase coherence between the individual lines. In the past decade, there has been growing interest in developing frequency comb sources and investigating their potential in fast spectroscopy. In particular, dual-comb spectroscopy enables fast measurement with high spectral purity and resolution. In this talk, I will report our frequency comb sources featuring high coherence, flat spectrum and tunable tone spacing. Further, I will discuss our research on using dual frequency comb method for high resolution signal digitisation as well as a few potential system architectures for phase coherent optical and RF sensing. The goal of this seminar is to trigger mutual understanding between photonics engineers and medical researchers, brainstorming the potential applications of our comb sources and signal processing techniques in medical sensing/imaging.
Short biography of presenters:
Prof. Michael Wale
Michael (Mike) Wale is Professor of Integrated Photonics at University College London and Full Professor Emeritus at Eindhoven University of Technology in The Netherlands, where he was previously part-time Professor of Photonic Integration – Industrial Aspects. He is also Honorary Professor of Photonic Communications at the University of Nottingham.
Mike received his B.A., M.A. and D. Phil. degrees in physics from the University of Oxford. He subsequently spent more than 35 years in industry, most recently as Director Active Products Research at Oclaro (now Lumentum), a major supplier of photonic components for optical communications. His experience encompasses many different aspects of research, development and manufacturing of photonic devices and systems, with emphasis on photonic integrated circuit technology. He is author or co-author of more than 250 scientific and technical papers.
Professor Wale is a member of the Executive Board of the European Technology Platform, Photonics21, and chair of its Core Photonics Working Group. He is a Member of Optica and a Life Member of IEEE.Dr Zhixin Liu.
Dr Zhixin Liu received his PhD degree in Information Engineering from the Chinese University of Hong Kong and joined the Optoelectronics Research Centre (ORC), University of Southampton, in 2013. In 2016, he joined the Department of Electronic and Electrical Engineering at UCL as a lecturer and became an associate professor in 2021. His research interests include optically assisted signal processing and its applications in communication systems and scientific instruments. He has pioneered frequency comb-assisted data conversion and low-latency data communications that have led to several of the world’s first demonstrations. As a PI, Dr Liu has co-authored more than 100 papers in international peer- reviewed journals and conferences, including four high-profile papers in Nat. Electron, Nat. Comm and ten invited papers in top IEEE/OSA journals. He holds four patents, including two licenced to telecom and datacom vendors.
A few photos from their presentation will follow.
