Daniel Blumenthal

Biography

Daniel J. Blumenthal is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Department of ECE at UCSB, Director of the Terabit Optical Ethernet Center (TOEC) and heads the Optical Communications and Photonics Integration (OCPI) group (ocpi.ece.ucsb.edu). Dr. Blumenthal is Co-Founder of Packet Photonics Inc. and Calient Networks, manufacturers of optical communications and network equipment. He holds 23 patents and has published over 500 papers in the areas of optical communications, optical packet switching, ultra-narrow linewidth integrated lasers, ultra-low loss silicon nitride waveguides, optical gyro sensors, InP and silicon photonic integration, photonic integrated atom cooling, and microwave photonics. He has published invited papers in the proceedings of the IEEE on the subjects of silicon nitride photonics and optical packet switching and is co-author of Tunable Laser Diodes and Related Optical Sources (New York: IEEE–Wiley, 2005). 

Dr. Blumenthal is the recipient of the Optica Society 2020 C.E.K. Mees Medal and a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI), Fellow of the IEEE and Fellow of the Optical Society of America. He has served on the Board of Directors for National LambdaRail (NLR) and as an elected member of the Internet2 Architecture Advisory Council. He is recipient of a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), a National Science Foundation Young Investigator Award (NYI) and an Office of Naval Research Young Investigator Program (YIP) Award and has served as conference chair and program chair and on numerous technical program committees for leading conferences. He has served guest editor of multiple IEEE Journal special issues. He is a member of the IEEE, IEEE Photonics Society, IEEE Communications Society, Optica, NAAS and the NAI.

Dr. Blumenthal received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder in 1993, M.S.E.E. from Columbia University in 1988 and B.S.E.E from the University of Rochester in 1981.

Research

Optical Communications and Networks, Optical Packet Switching, Ultra Low Loss Waveguide (ULLW) Platform and Devices, Low-noise and Linewidth Lasers, Integrated Optical Gyros, Ultrafast Optical Signal Processing, Photonic Integration in InP, SiPh/InP and Silicon Photonic and Nano-photonic Device Technologies.