Event Archive
Connaught Summer Institute in Nanofabrication
June 3-11, 2011
Bahen Centre for Information Technology
40 St. George St. – University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
Link to Connaught Summer Institute archived web site
PA Design Utilizing the NVNA and X-Parameters
Wednesday, December 15, 2010 – 3 p.m.
Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 7180
40 St. George St. – University of Toronto
Dr. Loren Betts
Research Scientist and Senior Engineer
Agilent Technologies
Loren Betts received his BSc degree in computer engineering from the University of Alberta, Canada, in 1997, and his MSc degree in electrical engineering from Stanford University in 2003. In 2010 he completed his PhD degree in electrical engineering from The University of Leeds, UK. His PhD research was focused on the Nonlinear Vector Network Analyzer (NVNA) based on the Agilent PNA-X. He led a team that won the “Barnholt Innovation Award” for the NVNA as the invention of the year at Agilent Technologies in 2008. He also was awarded the “Bill Hewlett Award” in 2010 for his work on pulse detection techniques used in the PNA and PNA-X network analyzers. He is currently a research scientist and senior engineer at Agilent Technologies focusing on complex stimulus/response measurements and modeling of nonlinear components utilizing vector network analyzers.
Silicon Photonic Wire Evanescent Field Waveguide Biochips: Sensors, Arrays, and Instrumentation
Thursday, November 18, 2010 – 2 to 3 p.m.
Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 1190
40 St. George St. – University of Toronto
Dr. Siegfried Janz
Institute for Microstructural Sciences,
National Research Council of Canada
Abstract: The National Research Council Canada has developed a silicon photonic wire evanescent field (PWEF) sensor biochip. Light traveling along strands of silicon a few hundred nanometers across, the photonic wires, interacts strongly with molecules attaching themselves to the silicon surface. On-chip ring resonators or interferometers can then be used to detect the optical phase changes induced by the attachment of a few percent of a molecular monolayer or less. These photonic wires are folded into tight spirals to form molecular sensor elements that can be arrayed at densities of ten or more independently addressable sensors per square millimeter. These chips may be used to carry out real time affinity binding analysis for drug development and fundamental biochemistry research, but applications extend to pathogen identification, food safety and chemical sensing. However, to effectively make use of the PWEF sensor platform, supporting instrumentation is needed that provides for real-time parallel sensor interrogation, delivery of sample fluids, and allows quick exchange of sensor chips for successive measurements. In this presentation, we will present the operating principles of the PWEF waveguide sensor chip and describe our ongoing effort to develop the associated PWEF sensor instrumentation. Specific challenges include on-chip integrated fluidic delivery and instrument-to-chip optical coupling using a unique sub-wavelength patterned grating coupler.
Siegfried Janz is the Group Leader of the Optoelectronic Devices Group at the Institute for Microstructural Sciences, NRC, and also an adjunct professor with the Carleton University Department of Electronics. He performed his graduate research at the University of Toronto Department of Physics, working on the use of nonlinear optical probes of surfaces. After completing his Ph.D. in 1991, he joined the National Research Council (NRC) of Canada where he worked on nonlinear frequency conversion, quasi-phase matching, and optical switching in III-V semiconductor waveguides, and silicon-based optoelectronics. In 2001-02 he was part of the research team at Optenia Inc. that successfully developed the first glass waveguide echelle grating demultiplexer. His research interests include active and passive integrated optics, and in silicon-based microphotonic devices. In particular, his recent research activities have been directed towards developing molecular affinity binding sensors based on silicon photonic wire waveguides. He can be reached at siegfried.janz@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.
This event is co-hosted by ECTI, the Institute for Optical Sciences and the IEEE Photonics Society.
ECTI Open House 2010
Thursday, October 21, 2010
12 noon to 2:30 p.m.
Galbraith Building, 35 St. George St.
Room 202 (Michael E. Charles Council Chambers)
University of Toronto
- Tours of the Bahen Prototyping Cleanroom, Pratt Microfabrication Cleanroom, Electron Beam Nanolithography Facility, Antenna and Microwave Labs.
- Poster presentations by graduate students and other researchers
- Research briefings with
- Professor Aaron Wheeler of Chemistry discussed droplet-scale estrogen screening for cancer detection and other tests.
- Professor Amr Helmy of the Photonics Group in Electrical Engineering discussed micro- and nanofabrication of photonic devices.
- Lunch and refreshments
A complete list of the research posters that were presented as part of the Open House is available.
Rigorous Design Optimization of Photonic Devices by Using the Finite Element Method
Tuesday, August 3, 2010 – 10 to 11 a.m.
Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 1180
40 St. George St. – University of Toronto
Prof. B. M. Azizur Rahman
City University London
Abstract: As optical technology has reached maturity, the associated devices have themselves become more complex. The optimization of such advanced devices requires an accurate knowledge of their lightwave propagation characteristics and their dependence on the system fabrication parameters. The optimization of existing realistic designs or the evaluation of new designs for optoelectronic devices and sub-systems has created significant interest in the development and use of effective numerical methods, as simple analytical approaches are often inadequate. Of the different numerical approaches for modal solutions reported so far, the finite element method (FEM) has been established as one of the most powerful and versatile methods. In the finite element approach, the problem domain is suitably divided into a patchwork of a finite number of subregions called elements. Each element can have a different shape and size and using many elements, a complex problem can be accurately represented. A wide range of photonic devices with more complex shapes can be modelled as each element can be considered to have different optical parameters such as refractive index, anisotropic tensors, nonlinearity, and loss or gain factors. Many important photonic devices, such as optical modulators, filters, polarization splitters, polarization rotators, and power splitters, may be fabricated by combining several butt-coupled uniform waveguide sections. To design and analyse such photonic devices, it is important to use a junction analysis program in association with a modal analysis program. One of the most rigorous approaches, the least squares boundary residual (LSBR) method, has been developed by the speaker. On the other hand, to simulate the propagation of optical waves through a z-dependent linear or nonlinear structure, the finite element-based beam propagation method (BPM) has been developed using a fully vectorial approach with a difference scheme along the axial directions. Such an approach is particularly useful in the characterization of tapered sections, such as up-tapered SOA or down-tapered SSC, and Y and X junctions and nonlinear optical devices. More recently, the FE-based time domain approach is being developed to study devices with strong reflections. Numerically simulated results for many important guided-wave photonic devices, using the full vectorial finite element-based approaches, will be presented, such as photonic crystal fibres, silicon nanowires, plasmonic metal structures, photonic crystals, THz waveguides, high-speed modulators, spot-size converters, optical polarizers, and polarization rotators.
Prof. B. M. Azizur Rahman received his PhD from University College London in 1982 and is now a full Professor at City University London. At City University, he leads a research group of 12 post-docs and PhD students, working on Photonics Modelling, specialising in the development and use of rigorous and full-vectorial numerical approaches for the design, analysis and optimization of a wide range of photonic devices. He has published more than 350 journal and conference papers, and his journal papers have been cited more than 1600 times. He is a senior member of IEEE (USA), a member of the Optical Society of America, SPIE, and IET (UK). He can be reached at B.M.A.Rahman@city.ac.uk.
Grand Opening of ECTI Electron Beam Nanolithography Facility -- September 2009
On September 16, 2009, the University of Toronto Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering officially opened a state-of-the-art nanotechnology research lab that will allow scientists and engineers to create next-generation devices that could significantly impact healthcare, information technology, clean technologies, digital media, and the automotive industry.
The heart of the new facility is a $6.5 million Electron Beam Lithography system, a tool that can define features as small as 10 nanometres – about 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. The facility is one of only two of its kind in Canada, and will be open to both academic and industrial researchers across the country. The Electron Beam Nanolithography Facility was built and equipped with contributions from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and Ontario’s Ministry of Research and Innovation, as well as contributions from numerous industry partners.
Minister of Research and Innovation John Milloy and CFI President Dr. Eliot Phillipson were on hand for the grand opening.
(Left to Right) The Honourable John Milloy, Minister of Research and Innovation and Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities; Prof. Paul Young, Vice-President Research, UofT; Dr. Eliot Phillipson, President, Canada Foundation for Innovation; Prof. Mo Mojahedi, Director, ECTI; Prof. Cristina Amon, Dean, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, UofT; Prof. Stewart Aitchison, Vice-Dean Research, Faculty of Applied Science and Engineering, UofT; Prof. Farid Najm, Chair, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, UofT.
The opening of this new facility greatly enhances the University of Toronto’s nanotechnology research capacity, a capacity instrumental to the future economical development of Ontario and Canada. The ability to control, pattern, and modify matter at the atomic scale, and the synergies such capabilities engender will greatly enhance Ontario and Canada’s standing in numerous fields of engineering, science, and medicine. The facility will foster new collaborations between academia and industry and will enable the university to recruit top-flight faculty members and train the next generation of highly skilled workers
With the National Science Foundation forecasting growth in the nanotechnology market to $1 trillion by 2014 and with 1.8 million additional workers required by 2015, there is great potential for the University of Toronto to contribute to the development of this technology.
Some of the projects already making use of the facility are aiming to develop better detection and sensor technologies. Professors Mo Mojahedi, Stewart Aitchison, and PhD student Muhammad Alam are prototyping and testing a device to efficiently generate and guide a hybrid of light and electron oscillations – called surface plasmons – using an extremely compact setup. Such technology, once fully developed, will have a great impact on applications for health care (cancer detection), information technology (more compact optical and electronic devices), and the aerospace and automotive industries (better and cheaper gas sensors).
Prof. Mojahedi (centre) presenting gifts to Minister Milloy (left) and Dr. Phillipson.
“We are very excited about the new addition to our micro- and nanofabrication facilities at the Emerging Communications Technology Institute (ECTI). We can now provide the full suite of tools for end-to-end micro- and nanofabrication and testing. Our new electron beam facility presents a quantum leap in these capabilities,” says ECTI Director Professor Mo Mojahedi.
“Many researchers across the university and outside have already begun to use our new facility to fabricate better sensors to be used in detection of leukemia, lung cancer, bacteria and viruses, more compact and efficient optical and electronic devices, and more efficient gas sensors. We are very optimistic about the future and expect ECTI will play a leading role in developing and transferring novel technologies which will greatly impact Ontario’s economy for years to come.”
To guarantee exceptional performance of the tool, the facility is located in the basement of the Wallberg building, ensuring very low mechanical vibration. The tool is enclosed in an environmental chamber that provides stringent temperature control: the lab temperature is set to 21ºC (plus or minus 0.25ºC) with a maximum rate of variation equal to 0.1ºC per hour. The environmental chamber is certified as a Class 100 cleanroom, which means that the number and size of dust and other particles is greatly reduced, providing a low-contaminant environment for research and device development.
Workshop in Dispersion Engineering
June 26 and 27, 2008
Emerging Communications Technology Institute
University of Toronto
Presentations given by:Prof. Stewart Aitchison, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto
Diffraction and Dispersion Management in Dielectric Waveguides
[Link to Prof. Aitchison's presentation]
Prof. Pierre Berini, Information Technology and Engineering, University of Ottawa
Surface Plasmons in Planar Structures: Dispersion, Attenuation and Prospects for Application
[Link to Prof. Berini's presentation]
Prof. George Eleftheriades, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto
Dispersion Engineered Microwave Components and Antennas Using Transmission-Line Metamaterials
[Link to Prof. Eleftheriades's presentation]
Prof. Nader Engheta, Electrical & Systems Engineering and Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania
Circuits with Light at the Nanoscale and Information Processing in Nanoworlds: Metactronics and Metananocircuits
[Link to Prof. Engheta's presentation]
Prof. Mo Mojahedi, Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Toronto
Dispersion Engineering: From Principles to Applications
[Link to Prof. Mojahedi's presentation]
Prof. Sir John Pendry, The Blackett Laboratory, Department of Physics, Imperial College London
Metamaterials Open New Horizons in Electromagnetism
[Link to Prof. Pendry's presentation]
Prof. Gilbert Walker, Department of Chemistry, University of Toronto
Plasmonics for Disease Detection and Near Field Imaging of Proteins
[Link to Prof. Walker's presentation]
Dr. James Pond, Lumerical Solutions Inc.
The Multi-Wavelength Challenge
[Link to Dr. Pond's presentation]
Take a look at photos from the Workshop in Dispersion Engineering
(on Picasa)Throughput-optimal Configuration of Wireless Sensor Networks
Catherine P. Rosenberg
Professor and University Research Chair
Department Chair, Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering
University of Waterloo
Friday March 31, 2006 -- 3:10 pm
University of Toronto
Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 1210
40 St. George Street
Abstract
In this work we seek answers to two fundamental questions concerning data gathering wireless sensor networks. First, for a given placement of n sensors and the sink, what is the maximum achievable throughput of the network? Second, how should the network, i.e. the radio and link layer parameters at each sensor, be configured to achieve this maximum? Unlike the popular "scaling" approach, we determine what is achievable, but not through asymptotic results. We assume centrally computed TDMA link schedules and not a distributed MAC. We show that routing and scheduling are intricately related. We cast the problem of maximizing the network throughput as a nonlinear non-convex optimization problem over the radio parameters (transmission power and modulation), routing, and scheduling schemes. In a special case of fixed transmission power and modulation scheme, we show that the optimal throughput is determined by the maximum weighted clique of the contention graph prescribed by the radio parameters; the vertex weights in this graph equal the traffic carried by the corresponding link under the routing scheme that is optimal for power, P. Moreover, the optimal link schedule is contention free and is also determined by the maximum weighted clique. For a grid topology with the sink in a corner, and all the sensors using the same radio parameters, we obtain the maximum throughput in a closed form under a two-circle interference model. The optimal routing is such that in a certain region around the sink the traffic is routed using the shortest paths while the traffic outside this region flows in two branches deviating away from each other and finally getting fed into the region through the border sensors. Interestingly, of all feasible transmission powers, the power which allows sensors to transmit to the sink in one hop has the maximum throughput.
Brief Biography
Born and educated in France (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications de Bretagne (‘Diplôme d'Ingénieur’ in 1983 and University of Paris, Orsay, ‘Doctorat en Sciences’ in 1986) and in the USA (UCLA, MS in 1984), Dr. Rosenberg has worked in several countries including USA, UK, Canada, France and India. She has worked for Nortel Networks in the UK, AT&T Bell Laboratories in the USA, Alcatel in France, and taught at Purdue University (USA) and Ecole Polytechnique of Montreal (Canada). Dr. Rosenberg is currently Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Waterloo, Canada, where she also holds a University Research Chair.
Her research interests are broadly based in networking with an emphasis in wireless networking and in traffic engineering (Quality of Service, Network Design, and Routing). She has authored over 70 papers and has been awarded six patents in the USA. Agencies and industries that have supported her research include the National Science Foundation, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, FCAR (The Quebec counterpart of NSERC), the Canadian Ministry of Communications, the European Commission and European Space Agency while at Nortel Networks, France-Telecom, CISCO, Bell Canada, and Nortel Networks.
Additional Information About Professor Rosenberg
Research, Development, and Commercial Deployment of Optical Networks: A Case Study on the History of a Major Innovation
Vincent W. S. ChanJoan and Irwin Jacobs Professor
Department of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Department of Aeronautics & Astronautics
Director, Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Tuesday November 8, 2005
3:15 pm
University of Toronto
Bahen Centre for Information Technology, Room 1170
40 St. George Street
Abstract
This talk will present a case study on optical fiber networks; from birth to its temporary lull in the last four years and prospects for the future. The development of optical network is an amazing engineering revolution. The trigger of its birth is the advent of new optical devices that are different in functions from conventional electronic network devices. These disruptive technologies give rise to new architectures that promise orders of magnitude advances much faster than Moore’s Law. With a major paradigm shift in technology building blocks and radically new architecture possibilities, future optical networks will not resemble any linear extensions of previous networks and call for new imaginations, creativity and new mathematical tools to guide their designs. Current optical networks are only at their infancies. Substantially more capable and lower cost networks will be realized in the future.
Brief Biography
Vincent W. S. Chan is the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Professor of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science and Aeronautics & Aeronautics, and Director of the Laboratory for Information and Decision Systems (LIDS) at MIT. He received his BS (71), MS (71), EE (72), and Ph.D. (74) degrees in electrical engineering from MIT in the area of communications. From 1974 to 1977, he was an assistant professor with the School of Electrical Engineering at Cornell University. He joined Lincoln Laboratory in 1977 as a staff member of the Satellite Communication System Engineering Group working on military communications and networking. In January 1981, he became the Assistant Leader of the Communication Technology Group starting a research and development program on optical space communications. In July 1983, he formed and became Leader of the Optical Communication Technology Group and Manager of the LITE (Laser Intersatellite Transmission Experiment) Program. He became the Head of the Communications and Information Technology Division of Lincoln Laboratory until joining LIDS in 1999. He has served as the Director of the ‘All-Optical-Network Consortium’ formed among MIT, AT&T and Digital Equipment Corporation from 1990-1996, the principal investigator of a Next Generation Internet Consortium (ONRAMP) formed among AT&T, Cabletron, MIT, and JDS Fitel from 1996-2001, and a Satellite Networking Research Consortium formed between MIT, Motorola, Teledesic and Globalstar rom 1999-2004. He is a member of the Board of Directors of Vitesse Semiconductor Corporation and the Chairman of its Technical Advisory Board. He also serves on the Technical Advisory Board of Agility Communications, and as a Member of the Corporation of Draper Laboratory. His research interests are in optical, wireless and space communications and networks. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the Optical Society of America.
Additional Information About Professor Chan
Microphotonics: Hardware for the Information Age
Professor Lionel C. Kimerling
Director, Materials Processing Center and MIT Microphotonics Center
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Friday September 30, 2005
3:00 pm-4:00 pm
University of Toronto
Sandford Fleming Building, Room 1105
10 King's College Road
Abstract
The optical components industry stands at the threshold of a major expansion that will restructure its business processes and sustain its profitability for the next three decades. This growth will establish a cost effective platform for the partitioning of electronic and photonic functionality to extend the processing power of integrated circuits and the performance of optical communications networks. The traditional dimensional shrink approach to the scaling of microprocessor technology is encountering barriers in materials and power dissipation that dictate more distributed architectures. Before 2015 the performance requirements for this short link interconnection will cross the 10 MBp/s km threshold that dictates optical carrier utilization. This business direction will ignite a major change in leadership of the industry from information transmission (telecom) to information processing (computing, imaging); and it will open significant new markets with high volume applications. The talk will include an overview of the technology platform challenges in design, fabrication, packaging and test.
Brief Biography
Lionel Kimerling was Head, Materials Physics Research at ATT Bell Laboratories until 1990 when joined the MIT faculty as the Thomas Lord Professor of Materials Science and Engineering. He is currently Director of the Materials Processing Center and of its affiliate, the MIT Microphotonics Center which he co-founded with thirty faculty in 1997. Among his industry responsibilities were long term reliability of semiconductor lasers, development of the first 1Mb DRAM chip and defect control in silicon IC manufacturing. At MIT his group’s research has focused on silicon microphotonics, environmentally benign IC manufacturing, and solar electricity.
Additional information about Prof. Kimerling
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Message Ferrying and Other Short Stories:
Mobility-Assisted Data Delivery in Wireless Networks
Dr. Mostafa H. Ammar
College of Computing
Georgia Institute of Technology
Thursday October 5, 2006
2:00 P.M.
Sandford Fleming Building
10 King's College Road
University of Toronto
Abstract
Disruption tolerant networks (DTNs) are a class of emerging mobile and wireless networks that experience frequent and long-duration partitions. These networks
have a variety of applications in situations that include communication in natural isaster or other hostile environments deep-space communication, vehicular communication, and non-interactive Internet access in remote areas.
In this talk, Dr. Ammar will first overview the basic motivation and survey of some
initial work in this emerging area. I will then provide an overview of his work
which is concerned with the development of a "Message Ferrying" (MF) scheme,
inspired by its real life analog, that implements a non-traditional "store, carry and forward" routing paradigm using node mobility to overcome network partitioning.
In the MF scheme, a set of mobile nodes called message ferries takes responsibility
For carrying messages between disconnected nodes. He will then place his message ferrying work in the larger context by describing a novel taxonomy for mobile wireless networks, which admits various ranges of disconnection and mobility.
Biography
Mostafa Ammar is a Regents' Professor with the College of Computing at Georgia Tech. He has been with Georgia Tech since 1985. He received the S.B. and S.M. degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1978 and 1980, respectively and the Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada in 1985.
Dr. Ammar's research interests are in network architectures, protocols and services. He has contributions in the areas of multicast communication and services, multimedia streaming, content distribution networks, network simulation and most recently in disruption-tolerant networks and overlay network design.
Dr. Ammar has published extensively in these areas and was the co-recipient of the Best Paper Awards at the 7th WWW conference and the 2002 Parallel and Distributed Simulation (PADS) conference. To date, 25 PhD students have completed their degrees under his supervision. He served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking from 1999 to 2003. He is the co-TPC Chair for Co-Next 2006 and ACM SIGMETRICS 2007. Dr. Ammar is a Fellow of the IEEE and a Fellow of the ACM.