(Video Provided by Optica Publishing Group)

 

 

Interview article:

 

Photonics Research Interview with Professor Connie Chang-Hasnain

 

Interview transcript:

 

Lan Yang: Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Webinar interview, sponsored by Photonics Research, which is a Journal Co-Published by Chinese Laser Press and Optica Publishing Group. This interview series will share with you the stories and journeys of scientists who have made important contributions and impacts to the field of optics and photonics. It is worth noting that impacts are not solely confined to the applications, but also ripple through their influence on people. And we believe the interview with a brilliant scientist is more than just an intellectual exploration. It is a source of inspiration. So, in addition to this live interview, we will publish the shortened version of the interview transcript in the Photonics Research journal. And I would like to encourage you to share this with others who might find this useful.

 

Lan Yang: Today it is my great honor to introduce our guest of honor. Professor Connie Chang-Hasnain, who is a world-renowned scientist in the field of semiconductor optoelectronics. Her accomplishments have been documented by numerous awards and honors. Because of limited time, I will not elaborate on all of those. But I do want to highlight her dedication and commitment to the community.

 

Lan Yang: So, in addition to being a faculty member for over 25 years at the University of California, Berkeley, giving guidance and advice to students and young researchers, she is also a community leader, serving as Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Lightwave Technology, from 2007 to 2012, and the former President of Optica, and also an entrepreneur, starting a couple of companies. So, from her endeavors in both academia and industry for the community, she is a true leader, across the board.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain in her lab at UC Berkeley

 

Lan Yang: Today, we have a great honor to have her share with us her incredible journey. The other important guest I want to introduce for this Webinar interview is Professor Hao Sun. She is a research associate professor in the Department of Electronic Engineering at Tsinghua University. She got a Ph. D. from Tsinghua University, and spent 3 years with Professor Chang-Hasnain at UC Berkeley, when she was a graduate student, working on III-V semiconductor lasers on silicon.

 

Her current research is focused on on-chip active devices that are based on the low-dimensional semiconductors. She is a rising star in the field of optoelectronics. From her first-hand experience with Professor Chang-Hasnain, she had a chance to see how someone can handle multiple tasks at the same time, efficiently. Today, it is our great honor to have both of them with us.

 

Lan Yang: I also want to note that we have included questions that we collected during the registration process, so there will be no additional questions from the audience today. Let's start the interview. Professor Chang-Hasnain and Professor Sun, the stage is yours.

 

Hao Sun: Thank you very much for the introduction. Hi Connie. You have made groundbreaking contributions to the fields of nano-optoelectronics. Your remarkable achievements not only advanced scientific knowledge, but also serve as role models for aspiring leaders and scientists, like me. I honestly believe that your experiences and insights can inspire and motivate others to pursue their dreams with courage.

 

Hao Sun: I'm really excited to dive into the various roles you have taken on, and learn how you manage to excel with each of them. And this interview is not only an amazing opportunity for me to give further insight, but also a chance for me to express my gratitude for everything you have done. I actually can't express how eager I am to interview you and share your journey with our audience. It's going to be incredible.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Thank you so much, Hao. Thank you so much for all the kind words. Good morning. Good afternoon, and good evening to all of you online. Thank you for joining us today. I want to first thank Professor Yang and Photonics Research team as well as Optica and Chinese Laser Press for inviting me here. It's really a great honor. And I'm looking forward to the conversation. And I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

 

Hao Sun: The first question is, actually, you have made pioneering contributions to the physics, design and applications of vertical cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). And you have been in this area for years. So, I'm curious about how you got involved in this field?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: It was a really opportunistic. I was very, very lucky. In 1989 I was a young researcher at Bellcore, and I was working on semiconductor laser arrays.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain at Bellcore as a young researcher attending CLEO 1988

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: In fact, one of the hottest topics at the time was about designing a laser array that can emit distinctly different wavelengths for wavelength division multiplexing or WDM transmission. So that was a topic I was working on. At that time, Prof. Kenichi Iga had just demonstrated the first room temperature VCSEL in 1988 and Jack Jewell and Jim Harbison reported their early work on as-grown DBR (distributed Bragg reflector) VCSELs in 1989. I looked at the VCSEL topology and thought it was just perfect for the purpose of WDM array. So, I jumped at the opportunity and made the first 2D VCSEL array emitting 140 distinctly different wavelengths. I further demonstrated the first planar VCSEL array modulated at Gbps for multimode fiber transmission. That was how I entered the field.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain with Kenichi Iga at Berkeley in 2005

 

Hao Sun: Can you expand the significance of your work on VCSELs, and how have they reshaped the landscape of optoelectronics, or what is the most important impact of VCSELs in our daily life?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: First of all, I should say that most of the work I will be discussing today are results of collaborations with my colleagues and students at Bellcore, Stanford, and Berkeley. I also collaborated with many universities, USC, UIUC, Tsinghua University and Tokyo Institute of Technology. I must apologize for not being able to name them all due to limited time, but I thank them very much for their contributions to the work.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: As I mentioned, I was looking for WDM sources for optical communications. And in 1990, we reported the first gigabit modulation of VCSEL arrays transmitting through multi-mode fiber arrays. We made transverse mode analysis and theoretical studies of the properties of VCSELs. We made 2D arrays, both individually as well as matrix addressable arrays. All of these, I believe, laid a solid foundation for multimode fiber transceivers today. Today, multimode VCSELs are used as multimode fiber transceivers in datacenters from the initial 1 Gbps, to today's 50 Gbps/lane and 100 Gbps/lane applications. VCSELs in the past 20 years have been the workforce for data center communications, and will remain to be so for a long time to come.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: In 1998, we published the first large laser array, 1000-emitter VCSEL array, emitting a 940 nm wavelength for 3D distance measurement and LIDAR application. We chose this wavelength because there's a strong optical absorption, so one can avoid stray light interference. That, to the best of our knowledge, was the first 940 nanometer VCSEL for 3D sensing. Today all 3D sensors used in smartphones are based on 940 nm wavelength VCSEL arrays.

 

Hao Sun: Yes, the Lidar and facial recognition based on VCSEL arrays have changed our life. I know that you also created tunable VCSELs that allow for wavelength selection and facilitate applications in optical communications and spectroscopy analysis. So, can you elaborate a little bit on how those advancements influence the field of optoelectronics in terms of market applications and industry innovations?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Wavelength tunable lasers have been always of great interests for a variety of system applications. One simple fact is that it is common to design an electronic resonator whose oscillating frequency can be tuned. In fact, such a tunable resonator is a fundamental building block for electronic circuits. However, for a laser, which is also a resonator, it's really difficult to sweep or tune continuously its oscillating frequency (i.e. its wavelength).

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: We look at this problem and we wanted to solve it. And it was really quite lucky. I had a colleague, whose office was next to mine, working on MEMS (micro-electromechanical systems). His work inspired my group. We decided to make a VCSEL having its top DBR mirror on a MEMS structure, and by moving the DBR-MEMS, you can change the cavity length of the laser, and thereby change its wavelength. It turns out that because VCSEL has an ultrashort cavity, it emits a single longitudinal mode. As a result, by moving the MEMS mirror, the VCSEL's wavelength can be continuously tuned over a wide range. In addition, the MEMS is so tiny, you can move it very, very fast, 100 kilohertz, or even several megahertz. Thus, we demonstrated a laser whose wavelength can be continuously swept. This is a unique feature that cannot be obtained by any other laser structure. Now MEMS-VCSELs are being used for swept source OCT (optical coherence tomography) in the application of ophthalmology, cardiology, gastroenterology, and so on. With the fast swept speed, one can observe micron-depth features over a wider field of view and actually see features that cannot be observed before.

 

Hao Sun: Just now you have already mentioned DBRs. I remember that when I was at Berkeley, you have made impressive contributions to the high contrast grating to replace bulky DBRs and apply them to VCSELs. And what is the motivation to investigate on this? And would you share any story behind this work?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: A VCSEL has a vertical cavity and the gain length is just the quantum well thickness. Comparing to a regular edge emitting laser, VCSEL's gain length is 10,000 times shorter and, as a result, a VCSEL requires two very high reflectivity mirrors. The standard mirror structure is an as-grown semiconductor DBR (distributed Bragg reflector) composed of many pairs of quarter-lambda thick, alternating refractive index layers. The reflection from each interface adds coherently resulting in a high reflectivity mirror. Because of the material choice, the refractive index difference (delta-n) is quite small, and as a result we need to use many tens of pairs of DBR pairs. The resulting VCSEL epitaxy may be more than 10 microns thick with material grown over ~10 hours, which presents significant difficulty in maintaining growth accuracy and precision. Hence, achieving high reflectivity DBRs has been one the most difficult parts of making a VCSEL epitaxy.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: So, we've been thinking - the high reflectivity comes from periodicity - which is in the direction of beam propagation, and as a result, a high reflectivity DBR is very thick. What if the periodicity is in the direction orthogonal to beam propagation? Would it be possible to obtain a high reflectivity mirror? And so, we started our investigation. We found that, indeed, it was possible! It's simply the Faraday Cage, which has been used for microwave and electromagnetic waves. The Faraday cage is just a single thin layer of periodic metal mesh and can completely reflect the microwaves. This gave us the inspiration!

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: However, in the optical wavelengths, metal is lossy and not desirable as a VCSEL mirror. So we thought about using a dielectric or semiconductor mesh to mimic the effect of metal mesh. This led to our use a high refractive-index contrast mesh to mimic a Faraday cage. And it turns out one can make a mirror with both 1D or 2D high index contrast structures. We proved this by simulation in 2004 and later with theoretical analysis and by experiments. In fact, subsequently, we found the high contrast gratings (HCG) or 2D metastructures (HCM) can do much more than the Faraday cage.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: A high contrast grating or metastructure can provide high reflection. But by changing the thickness of HCG/HCM, one can get an anti-reflection coating or a resonator with high quality factor more than 1 million; and by varying the other dimensions, i.e. width and period, one can modulate its reflection or transmission phase resulting in interesting flat optics such as a lens or beam shaper. We reported a high numerical aperture lens, a beam bender, a surface-normal modulator, a biosensor and a nonlinear optics four-wave mixer. This has just been a tremendous amount of fun!

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: It is worthwhile to point out that we started with analytical solution of dielectric waveguides and found great physical insights for top-down designs, which can be used to complement the more recent inverse design approach.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Of course, we made HCG to replace a DBR on a VCSEL. In addition to being ultrathin, the HCG allows to control VCSEL transverse mode and get a fixed polarization. And using this property, Berxel Photonics, the company I founded 4 years ago, has launched HCG-VCSEL as a product for 3D sensors. In 3D sensing the biggest problem is to avoid multipath reflection, particularly from highly reflecting surfaces, e.g. glass door, glass panel mirrors, metal walls or water surface. HCG VCSEL array with fixed polarization in conjunction with a HCG polarizer at the receiver forms the best solution to eliminate multipath interferences. [footnote 1]

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain in Berxel Photonics

 

Hao Sun: It's so amazing that such a thin layer of high contrast grating can replace so many pairs of DBRs. And the HCG actually can be employed in a lot of non-optoelectronic structures and play important key roles.

 

Hao Sun: So, in addition, actually, the audience are also very curious about the VCSELs. So they there are 2 questions from the audience regarding VCSELs, and the first one is, what are the recent breakthroughs in VCSEL lasers? And this one is from a student from Soochow University, and another one is a question from a company that is Lumentum Operations. And he asked, what is a VCSEL bandwidth upper limit with higher speed module deployment in DCN network. I think that is dynamic circuit network.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: I think the most exciting work in the recent a few years includes a paper we reported in collaboration with Professor Larry Coldren at UC Santa Barbara on the widest tuning range of VCSEL using anti-resonant coupled cavity. This is a very counterintuitive design. We were able to get a very wide tuning range, ~80 nanometers at 1050 nm center-wavelength, close to 8 to 10% of tuning range to wavelength ratio.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Another very exciting work is Professor Koyama's recent work on bandwidth enhancement laser using transverse coupled cavity and metal aperture coupled cavity. In both designs, Professor Koyama was able to get 100Gbps modulation speed. Professor Bimberg also used multiple small oxide aperture VCSELs, allowing them to couple and getting very, very high-speed operation. I think, in general, the theme of coupling of cavities in VCSEL, whether it's transverse or vertical, is a rich and very exciting area.

 

Left to right: Yasuhiko Arakawa, Dieter Bimberg, Fumio Koyama, Abderrahim Ramdane, Connie Chang-Hasnain and Eli Yablonovitch, Co-Chairs of 2018 International Nano-Optoelectronics Workshop (iNOW) at Berkeley

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: As to the second question, edge-emitting lasers have just demonstrated 200 Gbps modulation speed. I am very optimistic about VCSEL reaching 200 Gbps also. Currently, Berxel Photonics has 100 Gbps/channel VCSELs, among one of the first companies to deliver products with this modulation speed at 850 nm range. I think the entire community is excited about VCSELs for high-speed modulation for datacom applications. [footnote 2]

 

Hao Sun: Actually, besides your outstanding scientific achievement, you are also famous for your great success in technology transfer from academia to industry. And just now you mentioned you already commercialized the HCG-based VCSEL into a real product, and you founded the company Berxel Photonics 4 years ago. But I think, however, developing such groundbreaking technologies and converting them into real actual product that can be used in real world applications is undoubtedly challenging. So, could you share with us some of the main obstacles that you encountered during the development?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Yes, I have to say making a product is a humbling experience. I have enormous respect and appreciation towards the entire process of making a product. To all the engineers from Broadcom, Coherent, Sony, Lumentum, Ulm Photonics, Trumpf Photonics etc., my hats off to you for making VCSELs a reality.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: And I'm happy to share my experience. I feel the most important thing about making a product is meticulous attention to details. Details really matter. And a recipe must be repeatable, reproducible, and reliable before it can be turned into a product. There are many, many, many steps that one must take care to ensure this happens. Also it is a team effort. One has to have a team of people who believe in a big vision but care about every single little small step. I'm still learning. I want to acknowledge our team at Berxel Photonics, whose hard work made it possible for us to have volume production for 50 Gbps VCSEL as well as 3D sensors, and to be ready for production for 100 Gbps VCSEL for datacenter communications.

 

Hao Sun: Yes, for the real products. It's totally different from research. In research, we always try to find the "hero data". But for the real products we need to just like you said, like reproducibility, reliability, and so on, so forth. And you just now mentioned about team. And talking about team, what you have just said, links to my next question. So what kind of strategy have you employed to foster innovation and success in your team, both in in your company and research?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: I think sharing is the key word; sharing approaches, successful results and unsuccessful ones, new and half-cooked ideas, and problems etc. Only when one is capable to share unsuccessful experiments, one can succeed. And because many brains are better than one. Through the process of sharing problems and bouncing ideas back and forth, one can improve. I try to build an environment that my group all feel comfortable sharing. And I believe that's the key ingredient for innovation. Of course, innovation also takes solitary thinking and reading and diligence, which all of us do. But I think sharing is how we can make our world better.

 

Hao Sun: Yes, nice answer. Actually, the next question is asking for myself, because after 3 years at Berkeley, under the mentorship of yours, and I think I learned so much from you. And I'm curious about this question. Very curious about, but I'm always hesitant to ask. So how do you still stay motivated and maintain your enthusiasm for research and industry, especially during the times when the result may not, be as it's expected? Any other specific qualities or skills that are crucial for success for a young scientist in particular?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Well, I think you have the quality exactly. You spent 3 years in that basement without window. In that laboratory very often, very late night working on the tiny little nanowires that you could not find or see with a microscope, but need to focus light down to one micron roughly to see the results with very tiny luminescence. What a tough job you had! I'm sorry for giving you such a tough problem! But you did so fantastically which resulted in many important papers and a Best PhD Thesis award. So this is a great example.

 

The example is believing in yourself, right? And being optimistic even if one gets really poor results, and to have the courage to continue on. The important thing is to always analyze the problem and fix it. When I get really upset, I would watch a sad movie, and then I cry a bit to relax and release all the anxiety. And of course, I would talk to family members, friends and colleagues. But, above all, don't give up and don't give in! Continue to believe in oneself.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain with her husband Ghulam Hasnain, as Chang-Hasnain being inducted into the National Academy of Engineering in 2018

 

Hao Sun: Okay, I think believing and sharing are the two most important keywords, and I will try that. Watch a sad movie and cry a little bit, and it's just to find a good venue to release the bad emotions and then keep on going. Yes, and always. Families are always as a strong backup. So actually, another question I think I'm always curious about is apart from your scientific pursuit. What kind of hobbies or activities do you enjoy in your free time? And what advice would you give about maintaining a positive work-life balance?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Well, I have to say I really don't have a hobby per se. A hobby is something that is outside of work that you pursue and practice. I truly don't have that. I spend really all of my time either at home or work, doing my duties, but I truly actually enjoy them. Work has been tremendously fun, especially interacting with students and colleagues. But if I do have time, I watch some movies. And I also like to sing. I sing poorly, but I asked my students to sing with me. I also organize conferences and workshops, and particularly, plan parties during conferences and workshops, and I really enjoy that. I make a lot of friends that way. And then finally, I read a bit; and I love to read history books. I'm hoping to learn some lessons from history.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain interacting with students

 

Hao Sun: Yeah, reading history books actually makes wisdom. I actually very much enjoy the parties during the workshops. It's really fun and I make a lot of good friends. And another question from the audience, he was asking for advice, and I think he's also a young researcher that just finished his doctoral thesis. His research direction is the theoretical research of leaky mode of the fiber grating, and he think it's difficult to find real applications, and he feels very confused. So, he's asking for some kind advice from you. And this one is from University of Science and Technology of China.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: Leaky modes in fibers are very important for sensor applications. I would suggest him to his advisors and also colleagues. It is very useful to go to conferences and listen to talks, not only in his specific area but also other different ones. The are many commonalities that one can borrow. Also a Ph.D. degree is a just basic license that means you can solve problems. One may now use the same methodologies to explore new areas. So be brave to explore! Don't be afraid to get into new areas.

 

Hao Sun: Yes, just be open minded. And to communicate with other big guys. You are taking on a lot of roles, not only about education, industry and a lot of different community services. And you are the second Chinese scientist elected as Optica President after Professor Tingye Li. How did you leverage this position to promote advancements in the field of optoelectronics? Also, as someone who has witnessed the growth and development of both Optica and Chinese Laser Press (CLP), how do you think these kinds of organizations will play important roles in shaping the fields of optics and photonics?

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: First, I'm extremely honored to be a follower of Dr. Tingye Li. I followed him since 2000 when he started to organize a large number of conferences internationally. I feel like an adopted disciple of Tingye. And for that, I'm really grateful. I learned a lot from Tingye. He was really selfless and dedicated to promote young scholars and students. Very often you would see him at conferences being surrounded by students, and he loved to give advice and guidance. He was a great role model to follow.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: During my presidency in 2021, Optica rolled out its core values: inclusivity, impact, innovation and integrity. And I truly believe in them, and in particular, inclusivity. Inclusivity is about including everyone despite differences in nationality, race, gender and ethnic origin, etc. We want to outreach because science has no borders.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain at iNOW 2007 with Eli Yablonovitch, Ivan Kaminow, Ming Wu, Haolin Chen and the UC Berkeley team

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: I want to serve as a vehicle and a bridge to connect international communities. I'm continuing to organize and serve on international workshops. I am co-Chairing iNOW, the International Nano-Optoelectronics Workshop, which will be held in China this year. In addition, I believe in international cooperation, particularly professional societies. I participated in the recording for a special program called "Five Minutes in Optics" of the CLP WeChat Platform, to introduce VCSEL and its application to the audience. I also gave the opening remarks on behalf of Optica Publishing Group at ACP 2020 (Asia Communications and Photonics Conference). I am pleased to report that Photonics Research and Chinese Optics Letters, both of which are co-published by CLP and OPG, are doing extremely well as publications.

Connie Chang-Hasnain's Recording for Connie Chang-Hasnain, Lianshan Yan "Five Minutes in Optics"

Connie Chang-Hasnain, Lianshan Yan with CLP staff at ACP 2020

 

Hao Sun: I think I need to sum up. I want to thank you for speaking with me today. I have learned so much about your remarkable and invaluable experiences, and I'm sure that many people in the audience today will benefit from them. And also, at last I want to thank you for having me in your group. Your mentorship provided me with valuable insight and constructive feedback, which greatly contributed to my skills. I sincerely appreciate your dedication, patience, and willingness to invest your time and effort in helping me become a better professional. I think I will always cherish the knowledge and lessons you imparted to me. Thank you, Connie.

 

Connie Chang-Hasnain: I am grateful for the opportunity to speak with you. I enjoyed tremendously working with you in the past and appreciate the conversation today.

 

Lan Yang: I thank you, Connie. Thanks for this wonderful conversation. Time is flying. I can't believe it has already been 45 minutes, because there's so much useful information. I'm so engaged. It's like a few seconds to me for the past 45 minutes. And so, in addition to the insight about VCSELs that I learned from the conversation, I truly see the power of a collaboration, and also the profound impact one individual can have across a broad field. I especially feel that Connie has some special charm, the charm that shows her passion for the work. An inspiration for helping the community. Remember, she said that if there's anything that needs help, she will be more than happy to help out. I also feel her appreciation for others whenever she talks about collaboration. I believe that might be the secret of success for a well accomplished person. In addition to those technical things. I truly see the mentorship you give to people working for you. For example, when you see the details about Hao working in a room without windows, working on this luminescence to find the tiny nanowire, those tiny details won't be remembered unless the mentor truly puts heart and soul into this relationship, in the research. I now see why Connie is so successful in multiple things from academia to entrepreneurship and community leadership. For that I truly appreciate the time. And also, I want to repeat what she said to the audience, to the attendees of the webinar. Remember what Connie said. Being successful is not just about being smart. Be creative. When you work with others, be open to share, be open minded. That is very critical, right? She also reminded me about what Steve Jobs said. That is, "Stay hungry. Stay foolish." That means sometimes you need to aspire to do something and also be foolish in the sense that when people say it's so challenging, it can't be done, you need to believe in yourself and be optimistic. Never give up. Sooner or later, you will accomplish something. So, I truly learned a lot.

 

Lan Yang: In the very beginning I said that we're going to publish a shortened version of this interview. I wonder if we should publish the full version, because there's so much insightful information throughout the conversation. In the last few minutes, because, the webinar is sponsored by Photonics Research, I do want to talk about the journal.

 

Lan Yang: Photonics Research is a gold Open Access journal Co-published by Chinese Laser Press and Optica Publishing Group. So, there is certain journal to be a partner journal, for example, if the paper was published in Photonics Research, we can promote research on different outlets sponsored by different publishing groups. The papers published in the Photonics Research Journal cover both fundamental and applied research.

 

Lan Yang: And I also want to emphasize the journal was founded 10 years ago, when Photonics Research was launched. It has already positioned itself as the journal that emphasizes innovation and impact. In addition to being technically sound, the work submitted to Photonics Research should bring new and significant results to the community. In addition to publishing regular papers each year, we have some feature issues that cover a timely topic. That is our entry to the community. For example, in 2021, that is, 2 years ago, when AI (artificial intelligence) just arrived in photonics, started to bring interest in the community, we created a special issue on this topic (special issue on Deep Learning in Photonics). Quite few papers published in this feature issue are well received by the community. Last year we had a feature issue about next generation silicon photonics. If we pay attention to the news these days, you might notice the rapid progress and breakthrough in both academia and industry, and that is why we have this feature issue. And this year we have a feature issue about optical meta-surfaces, fundamentals and applications. As you can see from the list, all of the editors who help with the feature issues are researchers with great reputations in the field. There are 2 ways to create a feature issue. One is solicited by editor of Photonics Research, or you can submit a proposal to the journal, and we will be more than happy to discuss with you about a possibility to create a feature issue on the topic that is of interest to you.

 

Lan Yang: In addition to the feature issue, we have other ways to encourage authors. We have the Editor in Chief Choice Award every year. Each year we chose 2 papers, and each paper will receive a bonus. I would say that money doesn't reflect the value of the work itself, it is just a way for us to show our appreciation for authors. If you want to ask me, what is the criteria to choose the Editor-in-Chief-Choice Award, it is very simple. It is all about innovation, impact, and significance of a work. It can be a theoretical work or experimental work, and the award can be given to a group that is small or to a senior group. It doesn't matter what background, what subject as long as it meets the criteria of the award (innovation, impact and significance) then you have a very good chance to get the award. I wish you best luck to be the next recipient of this award.

 

Lan Yang: I always want to improve the journal, and also, in my view, the reputation of a journal is beyond the Impact Factor. It's about the reputation of the journal in the heart of readers and authors. Your feedback matters to us. If you have any suggestions that will help us to improve, please let us know.

 

Lan Yang: I also want to mention an important feature that is associated with Photonics Research is the review process. We have 2 steps for all papers. All submissions to Photonic Research go through an editorial review process so we can do a quick screening to decide whether the paper is suitable for the journal or not. Once the paper passes the first initial screening, it will be sent out for external review. And that is one way to ensure the quality of papers published in Photonics Research. I do believe that there are many other ways to further improve that. For example, we are preparing some online webinar seminars that will engage authors and the readers. So, stay tuned for more news from us, and I look forward to getting more feedback from you.

 

Lan Yang: Before closing, I wanted to thank all of you who attended the seminar and that will attend the future webinars, because your participation is the success of the event. And particularly, I also wanted to thank Professor Hao Sun, and Professor Connie Chang-Hasnain for spending time with us. Their conversation was insightful, even for me, a senior researcher. I found it so useful, and I hope you feel the same.

 

Footnotes: Changes after the interview.

1. Berxel iHawk P100 Polarization Structured Light Camera was selected a 2024 R&D100 Winner https://www.rdworldonline.com/rd-100-winners-for-2024-are-announced/.

2. After the interview, a noteworthy paper on 200Gbps VCSEL was published by M.V. Ramana Murty, et. Al., “Toward 200G per Lane VCSEL-based Multimode Links”, Optical Fiber Communication Conference (OFC) 2024, paper M2D.3, https://doi.org/10.1364/OFC.2024.M2D.3