MERI took part in the international conference PHOTONICA 2021

The VIII International Photonics School-Conference "PHOTONICA 2021" was held in Belgrade (Serbia) from August 23 to 27. The conference covered all the main modern areas of photonics: optical materials, biophotonics, quantum optics, optical metamaterials and plasmonics, machine learning in photonics, and others.

This year, the conference was held in a mixed format, including in-person and poster presentations, as well as online sessions. During the conference, there were more than161 reports and 122 presentations.

Ramil Minnullin, a researcher at the Radiophotonics Laboratory at MERI, took part in the conference and presented a report "Diffraction Grating of a Silicon-on-Insulator Structure Loaded with GST."

"This work is part of our joint research with Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod on the development of optical non-volatile memory elements using phase-change materials. In my report, I showed that by using a thin GST (GeSbTe – germanium-antimony-tellurium) diffraction grating on a standard Silicon-on-Insulator waveguide, it is possible to significantly improve the efficiency of light input into the waveguide through the grating, if the silicon is additionally etched to a relatively shallow depth (5-30 nm). This additional etching results in a GST-loaded diffraction grating. Although these are theoretical calculations, they have been performed using several methods that produce the same results." - said Ramil Minnullin in his report.

According to Ramil, many new and interesting studies have been conducted during the forced break in scientific activities. The scientists enthusiastically participated in discussions, exchanged information and results, and have to know their colleagues from different countries.

The International School-Conference on Photonics is held in Belgrade every 2 years, starting in 2007. The very first conference was called the International School-Conference on Optics and Optical Materials. Later, it was renamed Photonics, which, according to the organizers, more accurately reflects the essence and goals of the training conference. A special feature of the event is the opportunity for students and young researchers to listen to lectures by experienced and well-known scientists in this field, share the results of their work, and get answers to their questions. The main goal of the organizers is to provide a platform for discussing new developments and concepts in various areas of photonics, bringing together scientists from academia, public and private laboratories, and representatives of manufacturing enterprises.