“Advanced Integrated Photonics for AI-Era Interconnects, Computing, and Beyond”

Integrated photonics, particularly Silicon-based photonics, has become a disruptive force reshaping optical communications over the past decade. By marrying silicon with other functional photonic materials, such as compound semiconductors or nonlinear crystals, heterogeneous integration enables not only the combination of complementary material advantages, but also the creation of new device concepts and system capabilities. As the world enters the AI era, heterogeneous integrated photonics, with its broad versatility and scalability, is poised to play a transformative role in communication and computing infrastructures for AI clusters. The growing success of silicon photonics is also propelling advances across the broader field of integrated photonics, spanning diverse material platforms (e.g., III-nitride wide-bandgap materials) and enabling many other exciting applications. This talk will highlight this potential through representative examples of heterogeneous-integration-enabled devices, densely integrated photonic circuits, novel functionalities, and emerging integrated photonic platforms.

Di Liang

Professor, University of Michigan on April 17, 2026 at 10:15 AM in EB2 1231
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Di Liang joined the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor as a professor in Jan. 2024 after two years leading silicon-photonics product development at Alibaba Cloud Computing (U.S.). Previously, he was a Distinguished Technologist at Hewlett Packard Labs, where he built and led advanced R&D in heterogeneous integrated silicon photonics for energy-efficient optical interconnects and high-performance computing. Upon earning his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, he was a core member of the University of California, Santa Barbara - Intel collaboration in 2007-2009 to develop the world’s first on-chip diode lasers on silicon. His innovations and contributions to high-quality III–V/silicon wafer bonding and the first-generation of single-wavelength lasers played a key role in Intel’s successful commercialization of silicon photonics, helping to generate billions of dollars in revenue for the company since 2016. He has authored or coauthored one edited book, seven book chapters, and more than 340 journal and conference papers, and he is an inventor on 65+ issued patents with 40+ pending. He is a Fellow of IEEE and Optica. He currently holds multiple editorial appointments with leading journals of Nature Publishing Group, IEEE, and Optica.

This lecture series features exciting and dynamic visiting and virtual speakers from across the range of ECE disciplines. Take some time every Friday morning to be inspired by these great scientists and engineers before heading into the weekend!