Solar, Lighting and Thermal Photonics (SOLITH)
Events
Solar, Lighting and Thermal Photonics (SOLITH)
13 – 17 July 2025
Marseille, France
Signal processing has become essential to address the ever-increasing capacity demand, to reduce cost and power per bit and enable future services in photonic communication systems, including metro and long-haul transmissions, access and data center networks, edge computing, quantum and free space communications and optical signal processors.
SPPCom covers the state-of-the-art advances in digital, analog, electronic and optical signal processing techniques for photonic communication systems. The topical meeting brings together researchers and engineers from the academic and corporate world to share their knowledge, present their cutting-edge research and introduce their vision for the future of signal processing.
Chairs
Klaus Jaeger
Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany,
General Chair
Baodan Zhao
Zhejiang University, China,
General Chair
Stéphane Collin
C2N-CNRS, France,
Program Chair
Aaswath Raman
University of California Los Angeles, United States,
Program Chair
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Committee Members
- Klaus Jaeger, Helmholtz-Zentrum Berlin, Germany, General Chair
- Baodan Zhao, Zhejiang University, China, General Chair
- Stéphane Collin, C2N-CNRS, France, Program Chair
- Aaswath Raman, University of California Los Angeles, United States, Program Chair
- Mohamed Amara, CNRS-INL-INSA Lyon
- Jérémie Drevillon, Universite de Poitiers, France
- Marco Ernst, Australian National University, Australia
- Vivian Ferry, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, United States
- Feng Gao, Linköpings universitet, Sweden
- Noel Giebink, University of Michigan, United States
- Nikhil Deep Gupta, Malaviya National Inst of Tech Jaipur, India
- Yizheng Jin, Zhejiang University, China
- Wei Li, Changchun Inst of Optic, Fine Mech & Phy, China
- Jyotirmoy Mandal, Princeton University, United States
- Rosanna Mastria, CNR NANOTEC, Italy
- Mariama Rebello de Sousa Dias, University of Richmond, United States
- Bryce Richards, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany
- Michele Saba, Universita di Cagliari, Italy
- Ifor D. Samuel, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
- Seunghyup Yoo, Korea Advanced Inst of Science & Tech, Republic Of Korea
- Linxiao Zhu, Pennsylvania State University, United States
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Topic Categories
Solar, Lighting and Thermal Photonics (SOLITH)
- Solar Energy Categories
- Light management for solar cells and modules
- Concentrating photovoltaics (CPV) and solar power (CSP)
- Bifacial solar cells
- Semitransparent solar cells
- Integrated photovoltaics for buildings, infrastructure, vehicles and agriculture
- Space-based solar power
- Thermophotovoltaics
- Energy-yield analysis and modeling
- Economics of solar power
- Lighting Categories
- Optics and photonics for light-emitting diodes
- Laser-based solid-state lighting
- Visual perception and color science of solid-state lighting
- Spectral tailoring for human-centric lighting
- Novel luminaire concepts
- LEDs with emission outside the visible spectrum (e.g., UV, NIR, MIR)
- Advanced concepts and mechanisms for light-emitting applications
- Thermal Photonics Categories
- Directional and spectral emissivity control
- Radiative cooling
- Near-field radiative heat transfer
- Thermal management for devices
- Wearable photonic textiles
- Thermal management for solar modules
- Nonreciprocal thermal emission
- Thermophotonic LEDs (i.e., electroluminescent cooling)
- Cross-Cutting Categories
- Optical nanostructures and metamaterials
- Up and down conversion of photons
- Optoelectronic devices based on perovskites and organic semiconductors
- Optoelectronic devices with quantum dots
- Advanced characterization and measurement techniques (e.g., luminescence-based)
- Advanced modeling
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Plenary Speakers
Katarzyna Balakier
European Space Agency, United Kingdom
Satellite Optical and Quantum Communication- Present Capabilities and Future Opportunities
The talk will focus on the evolution of and recent advancements in Satellite Optical and Quantum Communication. These include ESA's flagship mission, HydRON (High-thRoughput Optical Network), and the creation of a new initiative dedicated to the development of the Quantum Information Network (QIN). The emphasis is placed on the multi-orbital network that can be seamlessly integrated with the existing terrestrial fiber network as well as the development of optical and photonics technology under the ESA ScyLight program.
About the Speaker
Dr Kasia Balakier is Optical & Quantum Communication Technology Manager at European Space Agency (ESA). She is responsible for the implementation of ESA Strategic Programme Line in Optical and Quantum Communication – Scylight.
Prior to joining ESA, Kasia was a Lecturer at University College London (UCL). She was awarded a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Fellowship to support her research in integrated photonics for space.
In addition to her academic career, she worked as Senior System Engineer and Expert in Telecom Payload Photonics at Airbus, where she was involved in development and implementation of optical systems for Telecommunication and Earth Observation satellites.
Polina Bayvel
University College London, United Kingdom
What Will You Use Those Extra GPUs For? Designing Scalable Optical Networks for an AI-Driven World
To support growing data demands, partly driven by AI applications, optical networks must deliver massive capacity with intelligence and efficiency. However, optical networks are not just sets of transparent pipes, they have physical transmission and graph properties which must be integrated into the network design – both for new networks and to evolve existing network infrastructure. Optimising over tens of formats, hundreds of independent channels over thousands of kms through brute force optimisation is hard, if not impossible! Reduction of complexity is key. By integrating advanced optimisation and machine learning, we must learn to design that match the complexity of future applications and the talk will look at some possible direction to achieve this.
About the Speaker
Professor Polina Bayvel is the Head of the Optical Networks Group at UCL, which she founded in 1994. Her research focuses on optical communications and networks, including intelligent optical networks, wavelength routing, high-speed transmission and fiber nonlinearity mitigation.
After completing her PhD, she worked as a systems engineer at STC Submarine Systems (now Alcatel) and Nortel, specializing in optical transmission and network planning. In 1994, she received a Royal Society University Research Fellowship and established the first academic systems engineering group in optical networks at UCL.
A Fellow of the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering, IEEE, and Optica, she was awarded a CBE in 2017 for services to engineering. She is the first woman to receive the Thomas Young Medal (2021) and the Royal Society Rumford Medal (2023). In 2024, she was honored with the Humboldt Research Prize.
Bayvel has authored over 500 journal and conference papers, led the EPSRC Programme Grant UNLOC (2012-2018) and currently leads the EPSRC Programme Grant TRANSNET (2018-2024), which aims to revolutionize optical networks using machine learning and intelligent transceivers. She advocates for secure, low-delay, high-capacity communications infrastructure to support the digital economy and transformative technologies.
Jean-Jacques Greffet
Institut d'Optique, France
Light Emissions by Solids: A Unified Model
Light emission by electronic excitations of a solid is often described using a list of microscopic processes such as incandescence, fluorescence, electroluminescence, scintillation, cathodoluminescence and light emission by inelastic tunneling. These processes are associated with electronic transitions, but no quantitative theories are available for most of them. One difficulty is that beyond the microscopic transition responsible for the emission in the bulk, it is necessary to model the extraction of the photon out of the emitter. On the other hand, electrical engineers can compute emissions by currents in complex environments such as cavities or antennas, which modify drastically the process. We will present in the talk a general framework that reconciles the two points of view and can be used to derive a quantitative model of light emission by solids. We will explore applications to thermal emission and electroluminescence, photoluminescence by metals, laser and photon Bose-Einstein condensation.
About the Speaker
Jean-Jacques Greffet is an alumnus of Ecole Normale de Paris-Saclay. He received his PhD in solid-state physics in 1988 from Université Paris-Sud, working in light scattering by rough surfaces. Between 1994 and 2005, he worked on the theory of image formation in near-field optics. Since 1998, he made a number of seminal contributions to the field of thermal radiation at the nanoscale, including the demonstration of coherent thermal sources and the giant radiative heat transfer at the nanoscale due to surface phonon polaritons. Since 2000, he has contributed to the field of quantum plasmonics and light emission with nanoantennas and metasurfaces. He is an Optica fellow and the recipient of the Ixcore Foundation prize and the Servant prize of the French Academy of Science.
Anna Tauke-Pedretti
DARPA, USA
Photonic Integrated Circuit Scaling Pathways
This talk will share recent DARPA program investments for increasing the size and complexity of photonic integrated circuits. It will also discuss the challenges and opportunities the creation of these circuits present. The needed ecosystem advancements to increase access to and further mature photonic integrated circuit technology will also be covered.
About the Speaker
Dr. Anna Tauke-Pedretti is a program manager in DARPA’s Microsystems Technology Office. Her research interests include compound semiconductor devices, optoelectronics, microelectronics manufacturing and heterogeneously integrated microsystems. She was a manager and technical staff member at Sandia National Laboratories from 2008 to 2022. At Sandia, she managed and led research efforts in photonic integrated circuits, high-power microelectronics, focal plane arrays and microelectronics security. Tauke-Pedretti has co-authored over 80 peer-reviewed publications and conference proceedings and holds 14 patents. She received Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Iowa, as well as Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
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Invited Speakers
Solar, Lighting and Thermal Photonics (SOLITH)
- Esther Alarcon-Llado, FOM Inst for Atomic & Molecular Physics, Netherlands
Light Scattering Control with Correlated Disorder Enabling New Solar Cell Designs - Charles-Alexis ASSELINEAU, Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Australia
Monte Carlo Ray Tracing for Decarbonised Energy Production and Utilisation - Solenn Berson, CEA Grenoble, France
Conformal Depotision of Perovskite Material for the Elaboration of Highly Efficient and Stable Perovskite/Silicon Tandem Solar Cells - Youri Blom, Technische Universiteit Delft, Netherlands
The PVMD Toolbox: A Flexible Modelling Framework for Future PV Systems - Christophe Defranoux, Semilab Semiconductor Physics Laboratory, Hungary
Advanced Spectroscopic Ellipsometry in Cutting-edge Photonics Applied to Solar Cells and Other Devices - Dawei Di, Zhejiang University, China
Bright and Stable Perovskite Light-emitting Diodes - Jorge Dolado, Centro de F´ısica de Materiales,
Concrete As A Radiative Cooling Material - Gan Huang, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany
Transparent and Self-Cleaning Metamaterials for Radiative Cooling and Indoor Light Management - Magnus Jonsson, Linköpings universitet, Sweden
Dynamic Metasurfaces and Thermal Management with Conducting Polymers - Forrest Meggers, Princeton University, United States
Practical Applications for Heating and Cooling Systems in the Built Environment of Photonic Materials (and Garbage Bags) - Gaël Nardin, Insolight SA, Switzerland
Light and Temperature Management in Agrivoltaic Systems - Ioannis Papakonstantinou, University College London, United Kingdom
Sustainable Photonics: From Fundamental Science to Real-World Impact - Carsten Rockstuhl, Karlsruher Institut für Technologie, Germany
A Digital Twin for Solar Cells - Mitradeep Sarkar, ICFO -Institut de Ciencies Fotoniques, Spain
Emerging Polar Materials for Directional and Chiral Thermal Emission. - Jennifer Selvidge, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, United States
Title to be Announced - Angelica Simbula, Universita di Cagliari,
Amplified Spontaneous Emission without Photon Gain in MAPbBr3 Planar Waveguides - Vanira Trifiletti, Universita degli studi di Milano-Bicocca, Italy
Kesterite Innovations in Photovoltaics and Photocatalysis - Rodolphe Vaillon, Lab d'Analyse et d'Architect Sys - CNRS,
Thermophotovoltaics: Photonics and Thermal Management - Alexis Vossier, CNRS-PROMES,
Photovoltaic Conversion in Non-standard Conditions: An Overview - Jelle Westerhof, Universiteit Twente, Netherlands
Fundamentals and Applications of Free Space Diffuse Irradiance Collimation for Enhancing Photovoltaic Yield - Refet Yalcin, Saint-Gobain Recherche, France
Radiative Transfer in Dense Media: Theory and Applications
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Student Paper Competition
The papers submitted to the competition were reviewed during the standard Technical Program Committee (TPC) review process, which resulted in 14 finalists being selected. After the papers are presented at the meeting, the Program Committee members will select winners based on content quality, value to the technical community of interest and the student's presentation skills.
Congratulations to the Winners!
Integrated Photonics Research, Silicon and Nanophotonics (IPR)
Ana M Statie, C2N, France (IM4A.4)
Hybrid integration of Erbium-doped oxides on Silicon Nitride platforms for light amplification
Novel Optical Materials and Applications (NOMA)
Ishika Das, University of Manchester, UK (NoM4D.3)
Efficient Second Harmonic Generation in Room-Temperature Ferroelectric Nematic Liquid Crystals
Signal Processing in Photonic Communications (SPPCom)
Alessandro Gagliano, Politecnico di Milano, Italy (SpTu1F.2)
Joint Sensing and Quantum Key Distribution for Invulnerable Access Networks
Solar, Lighting, and Thermal Photonics (SOLITH)
Mathis Degeorges, Princeton University, USA (SM2E.3)
Micropatterned Directional Emitters for Passive Thermoregulation of Vertical Facades
Photonic Networks and Devices (Networks)
Haojun Jiang, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China (NeTh2C.1)
Comprehensive Investigations of the Design for C+L-band Multi-pump Raman Amplifiers
