News

ISSP UL’s Organic Materials Lab explores photonic integration at the EPIC Meeting

Two researchers from the ISSP UL’s Laboratory of Organic Materials, Dr. phys. Aivars Vembris and Ph.D. Arturs Bundulis attended the EPIC Technology Meeting on Photonic Integration and Packaging at Fraunhofer IZM from June 3rd to June 5th. The event focused on the industrial significance of photonic integrated circuits and packaging challenges, with companies such as Fraunhofer IZM, Fraunhofer HHI, NVIDIA, Yole Group, VTT, HETEROMERGE, and ficonTEC showcasing their developments in integrated photonics and packaging. During the meeting, the ISSP UL researchers introduced their Polymer Photonics Platform, receiving valuable feedback from industry experts.

The attendees gained a better understanding of the issues surrounding photonic integrated circuits in the industry and explored opportunities for the application of polymer photonics. Fraunhofer HHI demonstrated their work on PolyBoard and InP photonics, expressing interest in integrating polymer materials into their platform for on-chip light sources. Fraunhofer IZM provided insights into their packaging systems, including the Vanguard optical bonding system suitable for polymer chips, and glass photonic packaging where polymer materials could be utilized as cladding. Heteromerge presented a novel 3D printing approach using new photoresists and showed interest in leveraging active organic dyes for structure fabrication.

The trip enhanced the participants’ understanding of the photonic industry’s needs and facilitated the establishment of new contacts for potential future collaborations in polymer photonics.