Celebrating The Work Of Our Engineers and Scientists

We’re taking a minute to shine a light on the great work done by members of out team here at LioniX International. Specifically, to mark the International Day of Women and Girls in Stem today some of our women engineers and scientists took some time out to reflect on what they find exiting about working in STEM.

Ilka Visscher

Project Manager/Design Engineer

My area of work is integrated microwave photonics (iMWP) the processing of RF signals in the using photonics.

The exciting thing about this field is that it’s still a young field to work in and is continuously developing and improving. We work on getting our photonics platform to the next technology readiness level and taking the next step of getting our assemblies into products. It’s very exciting to be part of this development at LioniX International.

There are several highlights in my career so far. One of them is that I was project leader of the MIT project SMART Antennas for Broadband Next Generation Wireless Communications. Within this project we developed one of the first hybrid integrated microwave photonic chip (the first from SATRAX/LioniX). I’m proud of what we achieved as this chip became the basis for all follow up chips in our integrated photonics platform and current assembly strategies as well as quantum-based processors that are now being developed.

Another highlight is leading the photonics part of the big AIDAN project for broadband satellite communications. In this we followed up on earlier projects and development on broadband solutions using microwave photonics. In this project we got our platform to the next level and we set the steps to an even higher level of integration and performance of analog photonic links.

Maaike Benedictus

Microwave Photonics Engineer

I’m a Microwave Photonics engineer. I write software, sometimes I work in our lab for characterizing assemblies and I do some chip selection. During characterization we check if the assembly is working as expected. For example I measure insertion losses for photonic signals and tune filters and lasers to give the outputs that are required on chip.

I love to elegance of microwave photonics. It’s really nice to go from received RF signals to light, change the direction of the signal and, going back to RF signals to transmit the signal.

The highlight of my career so far is that I enjoy my work! have nice colleagues, everyone is supportive to each other such that there is a positive atmosphere. The work at LioniX International is also challenging and I can use my creativity to solve challenges.

Noor Schilder

Project Leader / Design Engineer

I am a project leader at LioniX International. I recently graduated from my master’s applied physics, with a focus on integrated optics. My graduation project was on microring resonator sensors, and working at LioniX perfectly fits my expertise in that field.

I have learned so much in my time at LioniX International: from the working principles of our products to managing a project. What excites me about this work is that LioniX manufactures products at the edge of our knowledge. As such, the work that we do involves a lot of cutting-edge R&D work to fit the needs of our customers.

The highlight of my career would be that from the start, I immediately got two projects to lead and consequently quite some responsibilities. I am excited to learn more and continue my work here!

Lan Anh Tran

PZT internal project leader, Senior Cleanroom Engineer

My area of work is micro fabrication and characterization of multiple types of MEMS, microfluidics, and optical chips. At LioniX International I specialize in the development of stress-optic modulators by hybridizing an actuating piezoelectric material (e.g. lead zirconate titanate, PZT) onto integrated photonic chips. In parallel, I am working on customer project for direct electro-optic modulation in which the thin layer of piezo electric material is directly applied on the silicon nitride-based waveguide platform.

I find it exciting to be involved with two successful world leading companies in the field of micro fabrication that find their origin in the University of Twente. LioniX International is world leader in passive photonic chips and Solmates makes the world’s strongest piezo materials. By combining these two technologies at LioniX International I hope we can enable a revolution in actuation for photonic integrated circuits. Leading the development of this promising combination is the highlight of my current work. In my academic career I focused on magnetism and microfabrication of spintronic structures and now I combine MEMS with photonics in microfabrication. The multidisciplinary nature of my work I find especially interesting.