![[Milos Popovic photo]](20071101_milos_donnacoveney.jpg)
From article: "MIT works toward 'smart' optical microchips"
[Photo credit: Donna Coveney]
2007 Ph.D. (MIT)
2002 M.S. (MIT)
1999 B.Sc. (Queen's)
Ph.D. Thesis [PDF]
(26 MB, 358 p.)
Curriculum Vitae [PDF]
I am a postdoctoral associate in the Optics and Quantum Electronics group at MIT's Research Laboratory of Electronics. I obtained my Ph.D. at MIT in Sep 2007 on the "Theory and design of strong-confinement microphotonic circuits". My advisors were Prof. H.A. Haus (from 2000 until 2003), and Profs. E.P. Ippen and F.X. Kartner (from 2003 to 2007). My work proposed a number of photonic device concepts, and jointly with that of my collaborators gave the first demonstrations of working strong-confinement photonic circuits for telecommunication applications -- in SiN and Si nanophotonic waveguide technology. Among novel concepts I proposed are: universally balanced interferometers (UBIs), loop-coupled optical resonators, open waveguides with low-loss Bloch waves, and (jointly with P. Rakich) optomechanical "light-powered" micro and nanomachines for optical signal processing, feedback control and energy conversion applications.
Current activity
I am currently looking for a tenure-track faculty position in electrical engineering or applied physics. I am interested in the theory and design of photonic devices and circuits based on novel physics, at optical frequencies and extending to the THz and microwave regime. Starting from the fundamentals, I am interested in developing novel devices motivated by system applications broadly in communication, computation and energy conversion, and seeing through their experimental implementation and integration at the system level.
In particular, I am interested in the exploitation of the unique capabilities enabled by strong confinement, and in the branching of the field of photonics to the tight (including “intradevice”) integration of SC photonics with electronics, nanomechanics and other active systems – to enable fundamentally new functionalities based on new device physics. The promise is that of revolutionizing multiple aspects of technology in communication, computing and energy conversion, and assimilating photonic technology into an equally universal and pervasive role as electronics gained in the 1960’s. Micro/nanophotonics is, I believe, on the verge of major new developments and directions of inquiry, from connecting photonic, electronic and mechanical energy, to bridging the gap between optical, THz and microwave wavelength-scale device design.