Guilhem de Valicourt
Ciena, USAFor substantial contributions to the development and commercialization of integrated-optics communication devices
Guilhem de Valicourt is at the forefront of advancing the technologies that will enable AI and large-scale data center growth. Through his work developing, designing, and commercializing near-package and co-packaged optical transceivers, he’s helping to improve data center efficiency and speed. One example is how optical transceivers can provide high-speed communications spanning kilometers across an entire data center, eliminating the one-meter, 200 gigabit-per-line limitation of today’s copper wire.
In addition to this transmitter technology being incredibly exciting, it’s also at the intersection of many different fields—electronics, packaging, mechanics, and much more. Guilhem explains, “All these separate elements need to work together, and are usually all designed together, making the final devices truly unique. It’s challenging to keep all the elements working, but seeing the intersection of all these different fields and understanding the system as a whole is what excites me the most.”
While Guilhem has always worked in photonics, he started on simpler devices, focusing solely on photonic components. When he joined Bell Labs, his work started to increase in complexity. He began designing a fully integrated chip with multiple components on a single chip. He shares, “It started to be more integrated with several components, and then it became a subsystem, where you have not only one chip—one complex photonic chip—but an electronic chip, all the thermal, all the coupling, everything together. My work has evolved from a single device to a complex photonic integrity circuit to a full subsystem.”
Throughout his career, Guilhem has been supported by many wonderful mentors, each providing a new perspective. Romain Brenot, his PhD advisor at Télécom ParisTech, instilled the importance of enjoying the work because research and technology can often take a long time to yield results. Once Guilhem moved to the United States, he worked with Young-Kai Chen at Bell Labs, who taught him that while collaboration is important, it’s also essential to be able to solve problems independently. At IPG, Guilhem worked with Pavel Mamyshev, who stressed the importance of both the big picture and the minute details, which Guilhem considers in his work every day. Finally, Guilhem and Peter Winzer co-founded Nubis Technologies, where Peter taught him the importance of perseverance. In both their research and entrepreneurial roles, Peter was influential in keeping Guilhem moving forward.
A willingness to take risks has been a defining feature of Guilhem’s career. Entrepreneurship required him to develop an entirely different skill set. "You really have to wear different hats," he says. "You shouldn’t be scared to do things you’ve never done before." It wasn’t just entrepreneurship that challenged him, though. Guilhem believes that pushing himself to go beyond his comfort zone has led him to success, like he did when he left a stable job to start his own company. “Each time I'm stepping out of my comfort zone, I have to learn again. I think that's what keeps you motivated and always learning.”
Photo Courtesy Guilhem de Valicourt
Profile written by Samantha Hornback
