This is part of an ongoing series about new MTL core faculty members.
Professor Michael R. Watts joined the department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2010 and is heading the Photonic Microsystems Group. His research focuses on photonic microsystems for low-power communications, sensing, and microwave-photonics applications, where through development of microphotonic elements, circuits, and systems his photonic circuit designs often enable fundamental advantages over traditional implementations. His microphotonic devices are combined to form large-scale circuits and systems, such as low power inter-chip networks, thermal imagers, nanophotonic phased-arrays for high-speed beam-steering, and optical-microwave oscillators for precision timing. His latest interests include the modeling, fabrication, and testing of large-scale implementations of microphotonic circuits, systems, and networks that are being integrated--directly or through hybrid techniques--with CMOS electronics for high-speed transmitting, switching, and routing applications of digital signals.