Kam Yin Lau

2024
IEEE/RSE JAMES CLERK MAXWELL MEDAL

Sponsored by ARM, Ltd.

For spearheading high-speed semiconductor lasers and RF-over-Fiber Systems, enabling today’s wireline and wireless broadband access

Kam Yin Lau’s groundbreaking work has had a tremendous impact on the fields of fiber optics in general, and microwave photonics in particular. His early research was on high-speed laser diodes that before 1980 had modulation bandwidths of only 1-2GHz. As founding chief scientist at Ortel Corporation from 1981-1988, he led the research, development, and commercialization of the first laser diode transmitter that could be modulated with high fidelity at then record bandwidths beyond 10GHz. His high-speed lasers were the critical tools for realizing the potential promised by optical fibers for high-speed data transmission. His seminal innovations gave microwave engineers the tools to develop new microwave systems with hitherto unattainable functionalities, ushering in the field of microwave photonics. This work has significantly impacted high-speed digital fiber-optics transmission as well: the 10GHz/25GHz high-speed semiconductor lasers and high-fidelity RF-over-Fiber transmission systems he developed in the 1980s/90s laid the foundation for modern high-level m-ary QAM digital transmission protocols employed in multi-hundreds Gb/s fiber links. When combined with optical DWDM to attain multi-Tb/s  fiber trunks, those are the basis of today’s metropolitan internet backbone interconnecting data centers. His contributions have also been instrumental in realizing cable-internet/CATV services, which have been the most prevalent high-speed internet access medium for homes and businesses for the past 30+ years, continuing its prevalence even today owing to its superior speed performance over other access media. Going forward, future multi-tens Gb/s fiber internet connectivity to desktops at homes/businesses will again rely on Lau’s high speed laser technologies. Lau’s high-fidelity RF-over-Fiber transmission systems are also the underpinnings of Distributed Antenna Systems enabling ubiquitous, uninterrupted in-building (including underground and elevator shafts), and outdoor high-speed wireless internet connectivity in urban areas worldwide. 

An IEEE Fellow, Lau is Professor Emeritus, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA.

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