Frank Peters -

Prof. Frank Peters was born in Victoria, B.C. Canada. In 1988 he completed a B.Eng. in engineering physics at the Technical University of Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1991 he completed a Ph.D. from McMaster University, Canada. From 1991-1993, he was a Research Engineer in the ECE Department at the University of California, Santa Barbara working on Vertical Cavity Lasers and Modulators. Between 1993 until 2001 he worked as a Research Scientist at W. L. Gore and Associates and Agilent Technologies developing and integrating photonic devices into datacom and telecom applications. From 2001-2005 Frank was part of Infinera in Sunnyvale California developing high speed photonic integrated circuits. Since 2005 he has been an academic in the Physics Department at the University College Cork (Professor 2014) and a member of the Tyndall National Institute in Cork, Ireland. He continues to research in high speed and integrated photonic devices. He has authored more than 100 papers and holds over 40 patents all concerned with thermal, optical, electrical and systems issues relating to the design and use of photonic devices.

Research themes :

Photonics Integrated Circuits (PICs)

Monolithic and Hybrid Integration

High Speed Photonic Devices

Physics of Optical Waveguides

Semiconductor Lasers Planar Optical Devices

Computational Modelling Photonics Systems

Implementation of advanced modulation schemes in PICs

Characterisation and Test Automation and characterisation of Photonic Devices

Education :

1991

Ph.D. in Engineering Physics

McMaster University, Hamilton, Ont. Canada

Thesis topic: Spatially Resolved and Polarization Resolved Electroluminescence of 1.3 mm InGaAsP Semiconductor Diode Lasers 

Thesis advisor: Prof. D. T. Cassidy

1987

B. Eng. in Engineering Physics 

Technical University of Nova Scotia, Halifax, N.S. Canada

1984

Dip. Eng. in Engineering

Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S. Canada

Experience :

2005-

Lecturer in Photonics

Department of Physics, University College Cork, Ireland

2001-2005

Member of Technical Staff. Infinera, Sunnyvale, CA, USA (formerly known as Zepton Networks)

2000-2001

Research Engineer / Manager. Agilent Technologies, San Jose, CA, USA

1993-2000

Principle Scientist / Research and Development Engineer, Optical Concepts / Gore Photonics (W. L. Gore and Associates), Lompoc, CA USA

1991-1993

Research Engineer, ECE Department, UCSB, Santa Barbara, CA, USA

Supervisor: Prof. L. A. Coldren

1987

Summer Student

Laboratory of Microstructures, National Research Council, Ottawa, Ont. Canada

Supervisor: D. Houghton

Research interests :

Additional Interests:

While pursuing research in high speed and integrated photonic circuits, Frank likes to apply C++ based object oriented programming techniques to help solve problems in Photonics. This work initially produced a commercial software package - Vertical, which is still used by companies who develop vertical cavity lasers. Currently Frank and his research group are developing code for the rapid design development of complex photonic integrated circuits. Included components are: finite element and finite difference mode solvers, custom beam propagation code in 2D and 3D, band solvers for the quantum confined stark effect, edge emitting laser simulators and optimisation tools for photonic integrated components such as MMIs, AWGs and Echelle grating. Finally, the codes writes GDS2 files for the fabrication of the photonic circuits.

Active Research Contracts: 

Director of PiFAS - Photonic Integration from Atoms to Systems; a Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) funded Strategic Research Cluster Photonics

Strand leader for the Telecommunications Centre (CTVR) a large Centre for Science Engineering and Technology funded by SFI, the IDA and Bell Labs.

Investigator in MODE-GAP and EU FP7 project

Miscellaneous :

Patents:

Patent 7885492 : Transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) chips

Patent 7792396 : Probe card for testing in-wafer photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and method of use

Patent 7773837 : Monolithic transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TXPIC) with a transversely disposed output

Patent 7747114 : Tilted combiners/decombiners and photonic integrated circuits (PICs) employing the same

Patent 7680368 : Monolithic transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) with a traversely disposed output

Patent 7672546 : Optical transport network having a plurality of monolithic photonic integrated circuit semiconductor chips

Patent 7555220 : Chromatic dispersion compensator (CDC) in a photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chip and method of operation

Patent 7519246 : Photonic integrated circuit (PIC) chips

Patent 7512295 : Transmitter photonic integrated circuits (TXPICS) with directly modulated lasers and wavelength selective combiners

Patent 7477807 : Monolithic transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) semiconductor chip

Patent 7444048 : Tilted combiners/decombiners and photonic integrated circuit (PIC) employing the same

Patent 7437029 : Method of manufacturing and apparatus for a transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TXPIC) chip

Patent 7340122 : Monolithic transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) with integrated optical components in circuit signal channels

Patent 7295589 : Frequency modulated vertical cavity laser

Patent 7283694 : Transmitter photonic integrated circuits (TxPIC) and optical transport networks employing TxPICs

Patent 7236656 : Optical transport network

Patent 7158699 : Method of optimizing optical channel signal demultiplexing in a monolithic receiver photonic integrated circuit (RxPIC)

Patent 7135382 : In-wafer testing of integrated optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICs)

Patent 7129100 : In-wafer testing of integrated optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICs)

Patent 7123786 : Compact, cost-effective optical-electrical-optical (OEO) converter for an optical transmission network

Patent 7116851 : Optical signal receiver, an associated photonic integrated circuit (RxPIC), and method improving performance

Patent 7116694 : Transmitter array with pixel element that has primary semiconductor laser and at least one secondary semiconductor laser

Patent 7092425 : VCSEL device with improved modal properties

Patent 7079718 : Optical probe and method of testing employing an interrogation beam or optical pickup

Patent 7058263 : Optical transport network

Patent 7058246 : Transmitter photonic integrated circuit (TxPIC) chip with enhanced power and yield without on-chip amplification

Patent 7050719 : Wavelength division multiplexing receiver for wavelength tracking

Patent 7049570 : Optical chip coupling system utilizing micromachine adjustable optical elements and a feedback circuit providing the micromachine with a feedback sign

Patent 7043109 : Method of in-wafer testing of monolithic photonic integrated circuits (PICs) formed in a semiconductor wafer

Patent 7027703 : Method for forming and apparatus comprising optical waveguides leading to a free space coupler region

Patent 7006719 : In-wafer testing of integrated optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICs)

Patent 6999489 : Electrical isolation of optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICs)

Patent 6985648 : Method of in-wafer testing of monolithic photonic integrated circuits (PICs) formed in a semiconductor wafer

Patent 6922422 : Heat isolation and dissipation structures for optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICs) and an optical transport network using the sam

Patent 6839370 : Optoelectronic device using a disabled tunnel junction for current confinement

Patent 6804271 : Light emission methods and light emission devices

Patent 6771682 : Electrical isolation of optical components in photonic integrated circuits (PICS)

Patent 6465811 : Low capacitance bond pads for high speed devices

Patent EP1226607 : Low capacitance bond pads for high speed devices

Patent 6341138 : Constant temperature performance laser

Patent 6341137 : Wavelength division multiplexed array of long-wavelength vertical cavity lasers

Patent 6122417 : WDM Multiplexer-Demultiplexer using fabry-perot filter array

Patent 5918108 : Vertical cavity surface emitting laser with enhanced second harmonic generation and method of making same

Patent 5835517 : WDM Multiplexer-Demultiplexer using Fabry-Perot filter array

Patent 5812571 : High-power vertical cavity surface emitting laser cluster

Patent 5724375 : Vertical cavity surface emitting laser with enhanced second harmonic generation and method of making same

Associations:

Association: IEEE Photonics Society, Function/Role: Member

Honours and Awards:

Year: 1993.

Title: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship (Canada)

Year: 1991.

Title: Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship (Canada)