Ming C. Wu (Advisor)

Self-driving vehicles have long been envisioned as a massive leap forward in transportation technology. Although several efforts to developing fully autonomous vehicles are currently being undertaken in both industry and academia, so far none have achieved the promise of full self-driving. Of the challenges in building the autonomous software for self-driving cars, one of the most prominent is perception, or the ability for the vehicle to sense the world around it. To meet the requirements for practical deployment onto autonomous vehicles, perception systems must meet four key metrics of...

We design and experimentally demonstrate a new silicon photonic fiber coupling method using integrated microlens couplers. Efficient, broadband and polarization-insensitive coupling to a single mode fiber with a best coupling loss of 0.8 dB is achieved.

Project currently funded by: Industry Sponsor

**Project merged with BPNX1012 on 08/14/2024**

Integrated silicon photonic switches enable routing of optical signals and real-time reconfiguration of the optical networks in data centers and high performance computers. Reducing the operating voltage while preserving the required switching properties is vital to realize their full potential for real-time routing driven by CMOS electronics. Silicon photonic MEMS switches, based on electrostatic actuation, have employed high voltages because of constraints in mechanical designs aimed at eliminating parasitic effects. On the other hand, recent developments in piezoelectric thin...