Dr. Giovanni Milione
NEC Laboratories America, Inc.
Vector Beams and Space Division Multiplexing
Abstract – In this talk, I will overview two areas of my research at NEC Laboratories America, Inc.:
For plane wave solutions to Maxwell’s equations, light’s polarization is understood. Not so for structured light. In this talk I’ll discuss non-trivial higher-order solutions that have spatially inhomogeneous states of polarization—vector beams. This includes their connection to optical angular momentum, N-dimensionality, SU(N)-symmetric Jones/Stokes spaces, higher-order Poincare sphere and Pancharatnam-Berry phases, and non-separable space/polarization degrees of freedom. I’ll also discuss their inherentness in circularly symmetric and anisotropic photonic media, e.g., (non)local meta-surfaces, liquid crystal “q-plates,” and multimode optical fibers, and their experimental generation/measurement.
Space division multiplexing is the use of spatial modes as multiple, independent, and per wavelength data channels. It multiplies data rates (Tb/s- to Pb/s-scales), optimizes spectral efficiency, and increases data capacity of optical communications beyond fundamental limits. In this talk, I will discuss the ~10-year evolution from research to recent productization via submarine cables, short reach interconnects, and satellite links. This comprises the mitigation of mode coupling and dispersion via novel multi-mode/core optical fibers, the use of optical orbital angular momentum, vector beams, and Hermite-Gaussian modes, the mitigation of atmospheric turbulence-based scintillation via physics-informed use of spatial modes, and efficient mode multiplexers via photonic lanterns and multi-plane light conversion.
Time permitting, I will briefly overview the use of our work applying computational imaging to biometrics, i.e., phase-mask-based privacy preserving cameras for face recognition, and photoacoustic tomography-based 3D finger vein authentication.
Bio – Dr. Giovanni Milione is a Senior Researcher/Business Incubation Lead in the Optical Networking & Sensing Department at NEC Laboratories America, Inc. in Princeton, NJ. He received his B.S. in Physics from Stony Brook University and M.S., M.Phil., and Ph.D. all in Physics from CUNY Graduate Center/The City College of New York, where he was a National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow. Giovanni’s research includes structured light fundamentals, space division multiplexing-based optical communications, and distributed optical fiber sensing, which has impacted NEC Corporation’s business at a multi-million-dollar global scale. He serves(ed) as technical program committee chair/member for Optica FiO, CLEO, IPOEM, IEEE Photonics Conference, SPIE Photonics West, and the International Conference on Optical Angular Momentum. Giovanni also served on the Editorial Advisory Committee of Optica’s Optics & Photonics News and was the chair of the Smart Cities Committee of the Fiber Optic Sensing Association. His recent recognitions include Stony Brook University’s 40 Under Forty. Giovanni is also a U.S. military veteran, having served in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars.
This is an in-person seminar. If you opt to join via zoom use meeting ID 832 1148 5756 Passcode 286417