Dec 1 2007
Infinera Director of Advanced Optical Technologies, Dr. Radha Nagarajan, has been honored by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) as an IEEE Fellow for his key role in the development of Infinera’s large-scale photonic integrated circuits.
The award cited Dr. Nagarajan’s “contributions to high-bandwidth semiconductor laser and photonic integrated circuit technologies.” Attainment of the Fellow grade in the IEEE is an award that recognizes “unusual distinction” and “important individual contributions” to engineering and can be conferred “only by invitation of the Board of Directors upon a person of outstanding and extraordinary qualifications and experience,” according to the IEEE.
This recognition comes two years after Dr. Nagarajan’s recognition by the Optical Society of America, which named him an OSA Fellow for 2006. In October 2006, Dr. Nagarajan, along with colleagues Dr. Charles Joyner and Dr. Richard Schneider, was honored by the Laser and Electro-Optical Society (LEOS) with the Aron Kressel Award.
At Infinera, Dr. Nagarajan has played a leading role in the development of Infinera’s photonic integrated circuits or PICs, which integrate more than 60 optical devices onto a pair of indium phosphide chips. The Infinera PICs, which include ten lasers on one chip, enabled Infinera to develop optical systems with a data rate of 100 Gigabits/second on every line card. Since beginning commercial production in 2004, Infinera optical systems have won deployments in telecom and Internet service provider networks worldwide.
Dr. Nagarajan was raised in Singapore and obtained his undergraduate degree in Electrical Engineering at the National University of Singapore. He obtained a Masters in Electrical Engineering at the University of Tokyo, and came to the U.S. to study at the University of California at Santa Barbara, where he obtained a Ph.D. in 1992. After further work as a research faculty at UCSB, he joined optical components manufacturer SDL in 1995. In 2000, he won a Photonics Circle of Excellence award for the design of an efficient, high power, single mode pump module for EDFA applications.
“The IEEE Fellowship is a great honor, both for myself and for Infinera’s achievement in developing the first large-scale PICs that are widely deployable,” said Dr. Nagarajan. “I would like to add that the breakthroughs and success of Infinera are the product of the dedication and hard work of a large group of colleagues.”