NEP Speaker, David Neilson, Nokia Bell Labs

Title: Challenges for Optical Fiber Networking

Abstract

Over the last three decades there has been a 10,000 fold scaling in the data capacity of a single mode optical fiber. This perhaps underappreciated technology has enabled our current information society. We have now reached the limits of this approach just as the demand for network capacity driven by the Cloud looks to require a similar capacity scaling going forward. This provides an enormous opportunity for invention and innovation and I will describe some of the approaches and technologies that Bell Labs is pioneering.

Some background reading on the "problem"

Peter J. Winzer, David T. Neilson, and Andrew R. Chraplyvy, "Fiber-optic transmission and networking: the previous 20 and the next 20 years [Invited]," Opt. Express  26, 24190-24239 (2018) https://www.osapublishing.org/oe/abstract.cfm?uri=oe-26-18-24190

Bio 

Dr. David T. Neilson is Technical Manager at Nokia Bell Labs in Holmdel NJ USA. He received his B.Sc. and PhD degrees in Physics from Heriot-Watt University U.K. in 1990 and 1993 respectively. He remained at Heriot-Watt as a post-doctoral researcher working on free-space optical interconnect and switching systems until 1996. From 1996 to 1998 he was a Visiting Scientist at NEC Research, Princeton NJ, researching optical interconnects for high performance computing systems. He joined Bell-Labs in 1998 where he has researched several optical switching systems and technologies, including using micro-mechanical elements and LCoS for wavelength selective switches and optical cross-connects. He has also led projects and groups working on InP and Silicon photonic integration. His current research interest include datacenter switching and interconnect and the future directions for wide area optical transport. He has authored over 200 publications and patents on both devices and systems in the field of optical interconnects and switching. He is a Bell Labs Fellow and a Fellow of IEEE.