The industry’s most innovative people 2024 Desi Gutierrez


Organisation: Pilot Photonics Role: Director of Photonics Based in: Malaga, Spain


“Never stop learning,” says Desi Gutierrez, Director of Photonics at Pilot Photonics, a provider of optical frequency combs and tunable lasers. “New challenges often lead to new breakthroughs so it is important to be willing to step out of your comfort zone.” Gutierrez is developing an integrated comb laser assembly that uses an optical frequency comb to produce four accurately spaced wavelengths from a single source. Combs are not often used in optical networks due to complex separation requirements, Gutierrez says, adding that


Dimitrios Mansour


Organisation: Theon Sensors Role: Optical Engineer


Dimitrios Mansour is currently working on creating next-generation night-vision and thermal imaging devices in his role as an optical engineer with Theon Sensors. As part of that work, he says the most recent significant discovery was the ability to manipulate accelerating beams utilising orbital angular momentum. Perhaps understandably given his


research area, he believes defence and aerospace are the photonics sectors with the greatest potential for growth over the next 12 months. However, Mansour believes the photonics industry faces significant challenges


Based in: Athens, Greece Education: PhD, Optics, University of Crete


related to environmental sustainability and that the use of eco-friendly materials for optomechanical components is the key. He advocates for novel design and manufacturing techniques that reduce waste, minimise raw material consumption, and lower power usage. Regarding photonics R&D in Greece specifically, he says: “Although a plethora of new products, materials and techniques are available, it is difficult to find the specifics for your needs.” You can connect with Mansour on


LinkedIn and find his research on ResearchGate.


Ed Englehart


Organisation: Nokia Role: Vice President of Engineering and Head of Subsystems Product Unit, Optical Networks Division Based in: Freehold, New Jersey, US Education: Master’s degree in Engineering from Columbia University


Ed Englehart leads the Nokia Optical Networks Systems and Subsystems Teams, which includes research and development and product life cycle management. The systems team has responsibility for all of the equipment or network elements in the optical networks portfolio, while the subsystems team looks after optical networks’ high-speed optical designs such as components, modules and pluggables. During Englehart’s career he has worked


in key areas of optics, enterprise, and access with a focus on service provider and enterprise customer solutions. He


was also part of the original development team that introduced the 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) to the market and has held leadership positions in product line management and throughout research and development. His team was instrumental in the launch


of the latest terabit optical engine (PSE-6) launched in 2023. During a field trial over GlobalConnect’s live optical network in Europe, it was able to achieve 1.2Tb/s over metro distances (118km) as well as 800Gb/s over long-haul distances (2,019km), both using a single wavelength.


Education: PhD Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering, Dublin City University


conventional methods such as arrayed waveguide gratings have high loss, requiring costly and bulky optical amplifiers. However, Gutierrez and her team have


tackled this issue with a feed-forward demultiplexing approach based on the optical injection locking of an array of semiconductor lasers. This technology, she says, could replace four tunable lasers with a single module, reducing the cost, carbon footprint, power consumption, and thermal and electronic control, while maximising the spectral efficiency.


22 Photonics100 2024


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