Dr. Sora Veld

Biography

Sora Veld joined Veyra Institute as Group Lead of the Integrated Photonics Lab in 2019 after six years at the Thalassen Institute of Optical Engineering, where she specialized in heterogeneous integration of III-V gain materials on silicon substrates. She received her PhD in photonic devices from Orveld Technical University in 2013, investigating electro-optic modulators with sub-volt drive voltages for coherent data-center interconnects. She completed undergraduate studies in electrical engineering with honors at Lesthorpe College in 2008.

At Veyra, Veld has built a group focused on three converging research threads: ultra-low-power optical modulation for high-speed data links, on-chip optical frequency combs as multi-wavelength light sources, and photonic integration of quantum emitters for single-photon generation and quantum key distribution applications. The lab works in close partnership with the Cleanroom & Nanofabrication Facility, where custom lithographic processes are developed for device fabrication, and with the Quantum Sensing Group, which uses photonic readout techniques in its sensor architectures. The Integrated Photonics Test Bench (PH-12) operated via the Institute's equipment rental program was co-developed with Veld's group.

Veld has co-authored 38 peer-reviewed publications, holds three patents on photonic integration processes, and has been lead PI on two major externally funded programs. She serves on the technical program committee of the International Conference on Integrated Photonics (ICIP) and is a member of the Quantum & Photonic Systems division's steering committee. She teaches the graduate course Photonic Integrated Circuits: Design to Fabrication each autumn.

Research interests

Selected publications

1. Veld S, Trevino M, Nakaya R. "Hybrid III-V/Si microring modulators with 400 GHz free spectral range for WDM coherent links." Photonics Research Letters, 12(5): 708–717, 2024. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-2412
2. Veld S, Marchetti E, Obi K. "On-chip generation and routing of time-bin entangled photon pairs for quantum key distribution." Nature Photonics and Quantum Optics, 8: 44–51, 2023. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-2319
3. Veld S, Ferreira-Costa A. "Dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs on a heterogeneous SiN-III-V platform." Laser & Photonics Reviews, 17(3): e2200491, 2023. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-2321
4. Nakaya R, Veld S. "Sub-femtojoule-per-bit electro-optic modulation via plasmonic slot waveguides on silicon." ACS Photonics, 9(11): 3570–3580, 2022. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-2215
5. Veld S, Lindqvist A, Braun O. "Foundry-compatible process for InP-on-SOI membrane lasers operating at 1550 nm." Journal of Lightwave Technology, 38(15): 4188–4197, 2020. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-2009
6. Veld S. "Compact electro-optic modulator with sub-0.5 V-cm modulation efficiency on a 220 nm SOI platform." Optics Express, 26(4): 4720–4730, 2018. VEYRA-DOI: 10.veyra/VX-1811

Current group members

Postdoctoral researchers

• Dr. Marco Trevino — electro-optic modulators and coherent link architectures
• Dr. Ryoko Nakaya — plasmonic-photonic hybrid devices for low-power modulation

Doctoral students

• Adriana Ferreira-Costa — dissipative Kerr soliton microcombs (Year 4)
• Kwame Obi — quantum emitter integration in silicon-photonic waveguides (Year 3)
• Leila Braun — heterogeneous bonding of III-V membranes on SOI (Year 2)
• Nils Skagen — photonic neural network accelerators (Year 1)