Jalali, Bahram

Bahram Jalali, Northrop Grumman Endowed Opto-Electronic Chair in Electrical Engineering and                                                        Area Director, Physical Wave Electronics

R. W. Wood Prize, 2007
Fellow, IEEE, 2003
Fellow, Optical Society of America, 2004

Research Group: Photonics Laboratory

Office: 68-109 Engr. IV, Phone: 310.825.9655, Email

Biography

Professor Jalali is the Northrop-Grumman Optoelectronics Chair Professor of Electrical Engineering
at UCLA with joint appointments in the Biomedical Engineering Department, California
NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) and the UCLA School of Medicine Department of Surgery.
He received his Ph.D. in Applied Physics at Columbia University in 1989 and was with Bell
Laboratories in Murray Hill, New Jersey until 2002 before coming to UCLA. He is a Fellow of
IEEE, the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the American Physical Society (APS). He
is the recipient of the R.W. Wood Prize from Optical Society of America for the invention and
demonstration of the first Silicon Laser. In 2005 he was elected into the Scientific American Top
50. He has published over 300 papers and holds 9 patents.

Research Interests

Professor Jalali's research focuses on RF photonics, fiber optic integrated circuits, integrated optics, and microwave photonics.

• Fiber Optic ICs: Electronics integrated circuits play a critical role in fiber optic communication networks. Traditionally, electronics has been used to perform the so-called 3R regeneration (amplification, reshaping and retiming) of the data. Our research is focused on more innovativ applications of electronic ICs in fiber optic systems that will offer improved performance, or new and previously unattainable functionality. For example, electronic signal conditioning can be used to extend the performance of optical transmitter and receivers. Our research in electronic predistortion has resulted in the first single-chip linearizers for analog fiber optic links. This technology enhances the information carrying capacity of optical networks. Currently, we are extending the capabilities of this technology by integrating adaptive capability into the analog ICs. Our approach is digital control of analog functions and will result in a linearizer that can adapt itself to the particular optical transmitter (laser or external modulator) and to the environmental variations.
• Integrated Optics: Optical devices and circuits can be made using patterned thin films, in a manner very similar to fabrication of electronic integrated circuits. Integrated optic research deals with the design of active and passive waveguide components, modulators and switches, materials and fabrication technology for planar lightwave circuits. These devices represent key building blocks of the Internet backbone. Our research exploits the unique optical properties of Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI). From a material and processing perspective, this technology is fully compatible with standard silicon processing and hence can be manufactured in silicon fab houses. In addition, owing to a strong index mismatch between silicon and SiO2 (or air) optical fields are tightly confined in SOI structures. This allows us to miniaturize the device and circuit dimensions. Our past research has resulted in the first SOI demonstration of virtually all building block components of fiber optic networks. Current research is focused on nano-scopic waveguides and resonators, nonlinear optics, and methods for rendering such devices practical. As an example of the latter, we are developing two-dimensional adiabatic waveguide tapers with which we can efficiently couple light from a normal optical fiber into nano-scopic devices.
• Microwave Photonics: The broadband, low loss transmission capability of optical fiber links has led to much interest in their use for the distribution and control of microwave and millimeter-wave signals. Application areas include antenna remoting for wireless data and cellular radio systems, optically controlled phased array antennas, microwave signal processing and broadband cable television distribution. Photonics brings new functions to microwave systems such as long delay lines, fast spectrum analysis, frequency conversion, probing and control of microwave devices, low phase noise oscillators and ultra-fast analog to digital converters. Our research is focused on using photonics to process microwave and millimeter wave signals. Both linear and nonlinear optical phenomena are used in such techniques. An example of ongoing research is photonic time manipulation (time stretching, compression and reversal) of electrical signals and their application to analog-to-digital (A/D) and digital-to-analog (D/A) conversion.

Awards and Recognitions

• 2011 Fellow, American Physical Society
  
• 2007 R.W. Wood Prize
• 2005 "Scientific American 50"
• 2004 Fellow, Optical Society of America
• 2003 Best Paper Award, First ADC Forum (IMTC)
• 2003 Fellow, IEEE
  
• 2001 BridgeGate 20 Award
    The award recognizes executives who are 'difference makers' in Southern
    California's information technology and new media communities.
• 1998 IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optical Society Distinguished Lecturer Award