Valedictory lecture Ton Koonen
Ton Koonen was appointed full-time professor of Broadband Networks at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) on January 1, 2001, and officially retired on February 20, 2021. He will deliver his valedictory lecture entitled 'Light work(s)’ on September 24, 2021.
Light work(s)
Optical technologies are permeating all layers of communication networks, from optical fibre links crossing the oceans to fibre connections to every home, and are now at the verge of entering our homes too. Without these, the internet as we know it would not have existed, neither all the lifelines which keep our society together in times of society lockdowns.
Since its inception in the seventies, progress in optical network capacity and reach has been immense, fueled by crucial optical technologies such as ultra-low-loss optical fibre, the use of many wavelengths in a single fibre, and optical amplifiers.
In the valedictory lecture, Ton will look back on this amazing evolution of fibre-optic communication technologies, and how research has contributed to unleash the power of optical communication not only to enable globe-spanning traffic, but also up to and even inside our buildings. Moreover, being no longer only restricted to optical fibres, also wireless communication by means of light is opening a new era of unprecedented communication freedom to meet the growing needs of our society.
Symposium Optican Networks
Preceding the valedictory lecture there will be a symposium entitled ‘Optical Networks - communication fabric of our society’.
Both the valedictory lecture and symposium can be followed online via a livestream.