Physicist recognized for his engineering skills in photonics to improve Canadian wireless networks

Physicist Dr. Zhenguo Lu was inducted as a Fellow to the Engineering Institute of Canada (EIC) on April 20, 2024. He was 1 of 23 individuals honoured for their exceptional contribution to engineering in Canada at an annual gala event in Gatineau, Quebec.

Dr. Lu and his team are developing quantum dot-based semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers for optical coherent communications, data centre networks, satellite communications, and 5G and beyond wireless networks at our Quantum and Nanotechnologies Research Centre.

"We're integrating quantum dot-based semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers with silicon waveguide elements to create the chip-scale hybrid photonics integrated circuits which will be crucial for future converged optical and wireless networking systems," he said.

"The NRC is 1 of only 2 sites in the world that is able to produce quantum dot semiconductor lasers and optical amplifiers around 1550 nm, the that are at a leading-edge commercial level."

His research team's pioneering work on quantum dot lasers has fundamentally opened up new directions for research.

Dr. Lu's recent talk at SPIE Photonics West 2024, the largest photonics conference in the world, attracted many specialists to hear about his research and vision for the future.

His team developed passive quantum dot mode-locked lasers for telecom wavelengths with the shortest pulse duration to date. They also invented the first quantum dot dual-wavelength distributed feedback lasers to generate pure millimetre-wave signals for 5G and beyond wireless networks.

Dr. Lu enjoys inspiring the next generation of photonics students at his labs at the NRC and beyond. He has been an adjunct professor at Concordia University and the University of Ottawa since 2006.

He was happy to share his achievement of becoming an EIC Fellow with his family and looks forward to more discoveries with his team and colleagues around the world.