Meta-Active lecture: Cheben

Since the first demonstrations of a metamaterial silicon waveguide at the National Research Council of Canada in 2006 [1], metamaterial waveguides have been extensively explored for controlling light propagation in planar waveguide circuits. The integration of metamaterials on silicon chips has allowed the creation of integrated photonic devices with unprecedented control over refractive index, modal confinement, birefringence, anisotropy, dispersion, and nonlinear properties [2,3]. This integration has also enabled highly efficient and robust coupling between photonic chips and external devices, with efficiency approaching 100%. Metamaterial engineering has been adopted by the silicon photonics industry and is now an integral design tool in integrated photonics, with new applications advancing rapidly in optical communications, biomedical sensing, and quantum technologies. Here, we present an overview of this surging field and discuss how optical metamaterials enhance the performance of integrated photonic devices, including their key role in silicon photonics.

Dr. Pavel Cheben is a Principal Research Officer at the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada. He is also an Honorary Professor at the University of Malaga and an Adjunct Professor at the University of Ottawa, the University of Toronto, Carleton University, McMaster University, and the University of Zilina. Dr. Cheben is best known for his work in subwavelength silicon photonics, pioneering a new field of research that merges metamaterial technology with integrated photonics. He has co-authored more than 800 publications, 42 patent applications, and over 300 invited presentations. Dr. Cheben is an International Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, IEEE, SPIE, Optica, American Physical Society, European Optical Society, Institute of Physics, Engineering Institute of Canada, and Canadian Academy of Engineering. He is also the recipient of the Order of the Slovak Republic, the International Prize of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the IEEE Photonics Society Engineering Achievement Award, the Government of Canada’s Public Service Excellence Award, the NRC Research Excellence Award, and the NRC Industrial Achievement Award. Dr. Cheben is the most published scientist at NRC Canada for the past decade.

[1] P. Cheben et al., Opt. Express, vol. 14, 4695-4702 (2006).
[2] P. Cheben et al., Nature, vol. 560, 565-572 (2018). Review.
[3] P. Cheben et al., Adv. Opt. Photon., vol. 15, 1033-1105 (2023). Review.