Niels Quack

niels.quack@epfl.ch +41 21 693 73 83 http://q-lab.epfl.ch
EPFL STI IMT GR-QUA
BM 5142 (Bâtiment BM)
Station 17
CH-1015 Lausanne
Fields of expertise
Integrated Photonics
Diamond Photonics
Silicon Photonics
Heterogeneous Integration
Tunable Optical Microsystems
Microspectrometers
Mid-Infrared Photonics
Optomechanical Oscillators
Optical Switches
MicroLIDAR
Biography
Prof. Dr. Niels Quack received his MS from Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland, and his PhD from Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (ETH), 2005 and 2009, respectively. From 2011 to 2015 he was Postdoctoral researcher and Visiting Scholar at University of California, Berkeley, within the Integrated Photonics Laboratory at the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center. From 2014 to 2015 he was Senior MEMS Engineer at sercalo Microtechnolgy. Research interests include MEMS, Optical MEMS, Tunable Optical Microsystems, Optomechanical Oscillators, Silicon Photonics, Heterogeneous Integration, LIDAR, diamond photonics. He has authored and co-authored more than 30 papers in leading technical journals and conferences. He was awarded for his best class result and one of the most excellent Master's Theses 2005 at EPFL. He is a Senior Member of IEEE.
Awards and Grants
2015 - IEEE Senior Member
2015 - SNSF Professorship
2015 - Best Poster Award, Photonics for Disaggregated Data Centers, OIDA, Los Angeles, USA (co-authored)
2015 - OFC Top Scored Paper, Los Angeles, USA (co-authored, highlighted in OFC press release and awarded as Tingye Li Innovation Prize)
2014 - OFC Top Scored Paper, San Francisco, USA (co-authored)
2013 - NMC Travel Award, Stanford, USA
2013 - IEEE MEMS Outstanding Paper Award, Taipei, Taiwan (co-authored)
2012 - CIS User Grant, 2012, Stanford, USA
2005 - Prix de la Commune d'Ecublens, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland
2004 - SSBE, Max Anliker Memorial Poster Award, Zürich, Switzerland
2000 - VEGR Best Matura Project Award, Zürich, Switzerland
Professional course
Senior MEMS Engineer | sercalo Microtechnology ltd. | 2014-2015 | |
Postdoctoral Researcher | Integrated Photonics Laboratory, Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center | University of California, Berkeley | 2011-2015 |
Education
Doctor of Sciences | ETH Z�rich | 2005-2010 | |
Master of Science | EPF Lausanne | 2000-2005 |
Infoscience publications
Main Publications
2019
High-quality single crystal diamond diffraction gratings fabricated by crystallographic etching
Optics Express. 2019-10-07.
DOI : 10.1364/OE.27.030371.
FCC-hh: The Hadron Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 3
European Physical Journal-Special Topics. 2019-07-01.
DOI : 10.1140/epjst/e2019-900087-0.
HE-LHC: The High-Energy Large Hadron Collider Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 4
European Physical Journal-Special Topics. 2019-07-01.
DOI : 10.1140/epjst/e2019-900088-6.
Silicon Photonic MEMS Phase-Shifter
Optics Express. 2019-06-24.
DOI : 10.1364/OE.27.018959.
FCC Physics Opportunities: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 1
European Physical Journal C. 2019-06-05.
DOI : 10.1140/epjc/s10052-019-6904-3.
FCC-ee: The Lepton Collider: Future Circular Collider Conceptual Design Report Volume 2
European Physical Journal-Special Topics. 2019-06-01.
DOI : 10.1140/epjst/e2019-900045-4.
Non-contact polishing of single crystal diamond by ion beam etching
Diamond And Related Materials. 2019-02-01.
DOI : 10.1016/j.diamond.2019.01.007.
Single crystalline diamond part production method for stand alone single crystalline mechanical and optical component production
2019.
Silicon Photonic MEMS: Exploiting Mechanics at the Nanoscale to Enhance Photonic Integrated Circuits
2019-01-01. Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC) , San Diego, CA , Mar 03-07, 2019.
2018
Single crystal diamond micro-disk resonators by focused ion beam milling
Apl Photonics. 2018-12-01.
DOI : 10.1063/1.5051316.
Digital Silicon Photonic MEMS Phase-Shifter
2018-01-01. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) , Lausanne, SWITZERLAND , Jul 29-Aug 02, 2018. p. 217-218.
Characterization of crystallographically etched single crystal diamond diffraction gratings
2018-01-01. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) , Lausanne, SWITZERLAND , Jul 29-Aug 02, 2018. p. 173-174.
Size control of self-organized gold nanoparticles on nanopatterned single crystal diamond
2018-01-01. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) , Lausanne, SWITZERLAND , Jul 29-Aug 02, 2018. p. 94-95.
Enhancement of optical quality factor by thermal annealing of single crystal diamond micro-resonators
2018-01-01. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) , Lausanne, SWITZERLAND , Jul 29-Aug 02, 2018. p. 20-21.
Silicon photonic MEMS variable optical attenuator
2018-01-01. Conference on MOEMS and Miniaturized Systems XVII , San Francisco, CA , Jan 30-31, 2018. p. 105450H.
DOI : 10.1117/12.2317507.
Trapezoidal Diffraction Grating Beam Splitters in Single Crystal Diamond
COMPONENTS AND PACKAGING FOR LASER SYSTEMS IV. 2018.
DOI : 10.1117/12.2290557.
Precision micro-mechanical components in single crystal diamond by deep reactive ion etching
MICROSYSTEMS AND NANOENGINEERING. 2018.
DOI : 10.1038/s41378-018-0014-5.
Large-Scale Polarization-Insensitive Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
JOURNAL OF LIGHTWAVE TECHNOLOGY. 2018.
DOI : 10.1109/JLT.2018.2791502.
Freestanding optical micro-disk resonators in single-crystal diamond by reactive ion etching and multidirectional focused ion-beam milling
ADVANCES IN PHOTONICS OF QUANTUM COMPUTING, MEMORY, AND COMMUNICATION XI. 2018.
DOI : 10.1117/12.2290177.
2017
Geometric Integrators for Nonadiabatic Molecular Quantum Dynamics Induced by the Interaction with the Electromagnetic Field
Lausanne, EPFL, 2017.
DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-8145.
Electronic-Photonic Integrated Circuit for 3D Microimaging
Ieee Journal Of Solid-State Circuits. 2017.
DOI : 10.1109/Jssc.2016.2621755.
2016
Large-Scale Silicon Photonic Switches
2016. 21st OptoElectronics and Communications Conference (OECC) / International Conference on Photonics in Switching (PS) , Niigata, JAPAN , JUL 03-07, 2016.
Die Level Release of Silicon Photonic MEMS
2016. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) .
Scalable Row/Column Addressing of Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
2016. International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (OMN) , Jerusalem, ISRAEL , AUG, 2015. p. 561-564.
DOI : 10.1109/Lpt.2016.2515106.
Highly Scalable Digital Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
2016. Optical Fiber Communications Conference and Exhibition (OFC) , Los Angeles, CA , MAR 22-26, 2015. p. 365-371.
DOI : 10.1109/Jlt.2015.2496321.
Large-scale broadband digital silicon photonic switches with vertical adiabatic couplers
Optica. 2016.
DOI : 10.1364/OPTICA.3.000064.
Scalable Row/Column Addressing of Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
IEEE Photonics Technology Letters. 2016.
DOI : 10.1109/LPT.2016.2515106.
Chip-Scale Electro-Optical 3D FMCW Lidar with 8μm Ranging Precision
2016. 63rd IEEE International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) , San Francisco, CA , JAN 31-FEB 04, 2016.
2015
Engineering Nano-Opto-Electromechanical Systems
2015. Frontiers in Nanophotonics , Ascona, Switzerland , 30 August 2015 - 4 September 2015.
Large-Scale, MEMS-Actuated Silicon Photonic Switches
2015. Photonics in Switching 2015 , Florence, Italy , 22-25 September 2015.
MEMS-Enabled Scalable Silicon Photonic Switches
2015. Frontiers in Optics 2015 , San Jose, California United States , 18–22 October 2015.
DOI : 10.1364/FIO.2015.FW3B.2.
Highly Scalable Digital Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
Journal of Lightwave Technology. 2015.
DOI : 10.1109/JLT.2015.2496321.
50x50 Digital Silicon Photonic Switches with MEMS-Actuated Adiabatic Couplers
2015. Optical Fiber Communication Conference , Los Angeles, California , 2015. p. M2B.4.
DOI : 10.1364/OFC.2015.M2B.4.
Large-Port-Count MEMS Silicon Photonics Switches
2015. Optical Fiber Communication Conference , Los Angeles, California , 2015. p. M2B.3.
DOI : 10.1364/OFC.2015.M2B.3.
Development of an FMCW LADAR Source Chip using MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration
GOMACTech, St. Louis, MO, USA, March 23-26, 2015.
Large-scale silicon photonic switches with movable directional couplers
Optica. 2015.
DOI : 10.1364/OPTICA.2.000370.
Row/Column Addressing of Scalable Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics (IEEE OMN), Jerusalem, Israel, August 2-6, 2015.
64x64 Low-Loss and Broadband Digital Silicon Photonic MEMS Switches
Conference on Optical Communications (ECOC 2015), Valencia, Spain, 27 September - 1 October 2015.
2014
Method for Increasing the Operating Distance of MEMS LIDAR beyond Brownian Noise Limitation
2014. CLEO: Applications and Technology , San Jose, California , 2014. p. AW3H.2.
DOI : 10.1364/CLEO_AT.2014.AW3H.2.
Monolithic Large-Scale Optical Switches Using Silicon Photonic MEMS
2014. 2014 OptoElectronics and Communication Conference and Australian Conference on Optical Fibre Technology (OECC/ACOFT 2014) , Melbourne, Australia , July 6-10, 2014. p. 625.
Monolithic 50x50 MEMS Silicon Photonic Switches with Microsecond Response Time
2014. Optical Fiber Communication Conference , San Francisco, California , 2014. p. M2K.2.
DOI : 10.1364/OFC.2014.M2K.2.
Development of a FMCW LADAR Source Chip Using MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration
GOMACTech, Charleston, SC, USA, March 31 - April 3, 2014.
Integrated VCSEL-Microlens Scanner With Large Scan Range
Journal of Microelectromechanical Systems. 2014.
DOI : 10.1109/JMEMS.2014.2315810.
Results of the Test of Industrially Manufactured HTS Current Leads With Novel Design Features
Ieee Transactions On Applied Superconductivity. 2014.
DOI : 10.1109/Tasc.2013.2281121.
2013
Linear Frequency Chirp Generation Employing Opto-electronic Feedback Loop and Integrated Silicon Photonics
2013. CLEO , San Jose, CA, USA , June 9-14, 2013..
Phase Noise Spectrum and Carrier Power Modeling of High Performance Optomechanical Oscillators
2013. CLEO: QELS_Fundamental Science , CLEO: QELS_Fundamental Science (2013) , 2013. p. QTh4E.2.
DOI : 10.1364/CLEO_QELS.2013.QTh4E.2.
Enhancement of mechanical Q for low phase noise optomechanical oscillators
2013. 2013 IEEE 26th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) , Taipei, Taiwan , January 20-24, 2013. p. 118-121.
DOI : 10.1109/MEMSYS.2013.6474191.
Through Silicon Vias and thermocompression bonding using inkjet-printed gold nanoparticles for heterogeneous MEMS integration
2013. 2013 Transducers & Eurosensors XXVII: The 17th International Conference on Solid-State Sensors, Actuators and Microsystems (TRANSDUCERS & EUROSENSORS XXVII) , Barcelona, Spain , June 16-20, 2013. p. 834-837.
DOI : 10.1109/Transducers.2013.6626896.
Development of an FMCW LADAR Source Chip using MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration
GOMACTech, Las Vegas, NV, USA, March 11-14 ,2013.
3D Imaging: Sub-mm Resolution Ranging using a Chip-scale MEMS FMCW LIDAR Source
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), Research Review, Berkeley, CA, USA, September 17-18, 2013.
Droplet-on-Demand Inkjet-filled TSVs as a Pathway to Cost-efficient Chip Stacking
IMPAS 2013, 46th International Symposium on Microelectronics, Orlando, FL, USA, 30 September – 3 October, 2013.
2012
Self-aligned VCSEL-microlens scanner with large scan range
2012. 2012 IEEE 25th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) , Paris, France , January 29 - February 2, 2012. p. 656-659.
DOI : 10.1109/MEMSYS.2012.6170272.
A Platform for On-Chip Silica Optomechanical Oscillators with Integrated Waveguides
2012. CLEO: Science and Innovations , San Jose, California , 2012. p. CW1M.5.
DOI : 10.1364/CLEO_SI.2012.CW1M.5.
Wafer-scale silica optomechanical oscillators with low threshold power and low phase noise for monolithic optical frequency references
2012. 2012 IEEE Photonics Society International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics , Banff, AB, Canada , August 6-9, 2012. p. 51-52.
DOI : 10.1109/OMEMS.2012.6318797.
Wafer Level AlGe Eutectic Bonding for MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration
International Nano-Optoelectronics Workshop, UC Berkeley and Stanford University, CA, USA, August 7-15, 2012.
MEMS-Electronic-Photonic Heterogeneous Integration (MEPHI)
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), Research Review, Berkeley, CA, USA, March 7-9, 2012.
Development of HTS current leads for industrial fabrication
2012. MT-22, International Conference on Magnet Technology , Marseille, France , September 11-16, 2011.
DOI : 10.1109/Tasc.2011.2178013.
2011
MEMS Lens Scanner
Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center (BSAC), Research Review, Berkeley, CA, USA, September 13, 2011.
2010
Tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors for Mid-Infrared Gas Spectroscopy
MIOMD-X, 10th International Conference on Mid-Infrared Optoelectronics: Materials and Devices, Shanghai, China, September 5-9, 2010.
Mid infrared resonant cavity detectors and lasers with epitaxial lead-chalcogenides
Opto-Electronics Review. 2010.
DOI : 10.2478/s11772-010-1028-5.
Lead salt resonant cavity enhanced detector with MEMS mirror
Physics Procedia. 2010.
DOI : 10.1016/j.phpro.2010.01.150.
2009
IV-VI Mid-IR Tunable Lasers and Detectors with External Resonant Cavities
2009. Optics and Photonics, Infrared Spaceborne Remote Sensing and Instrumentation XVII , San Diego, CA, USA , August 2-6, 2009.
Mid infrared resonant cavity detectors and lasers with epitaxial lead-chalcogenides
European Materials Research Society (EMRS), Warsaw, Poland, September 14-18, 2009.
Lead Salt Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detector with MEMS Mirror
NGS-14, 14th International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors, Sendai, Japan, July 13-17, 2009.
Narrow band tunable resonant cavity enhanced detectors for 3 - 10 μm wavelength
1th European Symposium on Semiconductor Detectors, Wildbad Kreuth, Germany, June 7-11, 2009.
Electrostatically Actuated Micromirrors for Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
MicroNanoFabrication Annual Review Meeting, Lausanne, Switzerland, May 19, 2009.
Micromirrors for integrated tunable mid-infrared detectors and emitters
ETH, 2009.
DOI : 10.3929/ethz-a-005994709.
A comb drive actuated vertically moving micromirror for tunable mid-infrared Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
Microelectronic Engineering. 2009.
DOI : 10.1016/j.mee.2008.12.064.
2008
A Comb Drive Actuated Vertically Moving Micromirror for Mid-Infrared Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
34th international conference on Micro and Nano Engineering (MNE), Athens, Greece, September 15-18, 2008.
Mid-Infrared Tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
nternational Conference on Mid- Infrared Optoelectronics: Materials and Devices (MIOMD) IX, Freiburg, Germany, September 7-11, 2008.
Durchstimmbare resonanzverstärkte Detektoren für das mittlere Infrarot
Deutschsprachiger Workshop für Molekularstrahlepitaxie (DMBE), Zürich, Switzerland, September 1-2, 2008.
Mid-infrared tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors employing vertically moving comb drive actuated MEMS micromirrors
2008. 2008 IEEE/LEOS Internationall Conference on Optical MEMs and Nanophotonics , Freiburg, Germany , August, 11-14, 2008. p. 174-175.
DOI : 10.1109/OMEMS.2008.4607885.
Electrostatically Actuated Micromirrors for Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors, MicroNanoFabrication
Annual Review Meeting, Lausanne, Switzerland, May 20, 2008.
Micro and Nanosystems Platform
Industry Day, Zürich, Switzerland, March 19, 2008.
Mid-Infrared Tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland). 2008.
DOI : 10.3390/s8095466.
Epitaxial Lead Chalcogenides on Si for Mid-IR Detectors and Emitters Including Cavities
Journal of Electronic Materials. 2008.
DOI : 10.1007/s11664-008-0429-0.
Tunable resonant cavity enhanced detectors using vertically actuated MEMS mirrors
Journal of Optics A: Pure and Applied Optics. 2008.
DOI : 10.1088/1464-4258/10/4/044015.
Vertically moving micromirror for detectors in the mid infrared
Sensors and Actuators A: Physical. 2008.
DOI : 10.1016/j.sna.2007.06.013.
2007
Electrostatically actuated micromirror for resonant cavity enhanced detectors
2007. 2007 IEEE 20th International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) , Hyogo, Japan , January 21-25, 2007. p. 711-714.
DOI : 10.1109/MEMSYS.2007.4432997.
Tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors using Vertical MEMS Mirrors
2007. 2007 IEEE/LEOS International Conference on Optical MEMS and Nanophotonics , Hualien, Taiwan , July 16 - august 12, 2007. p. 165-166.
DOI : 10.1109/OMEMS.2007.4373892.
Epitaxial lead-chalcogenides on Si for mid-IR detectors and emitters including cavities
U.S. Workshop on the physics and chemistry of II-VI materials, Baltimore, Maryland, USA, 30 October – 1 November 2007.
Epitaxial lead-chalcogenides on Si for mid-IR detectors and emitters including cavities
AITA, Advanced Infrared Technology and Applications International Workshop, Leon, Mexico, October 8-12, 2007.
MEMS Mirrors for the use in Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
33rd International Conference on Micro- and Nano-Engineering (MNE 2007), Copenhagen, Denmark, September 23-26, 2007.
Wavelength tunable Resonant Cavity Enhanced Photodetectors based on lead-salts grown by MBE
Thirteenth International Conference on Narrow Gap Semiconductors, Guildford UK, July 8-12 2007.
Wavelength tunable resonant cavity enhanced detectors
8th International Conference on Mid- Infrared Optoelectronics: Materials and Devices, Bad Ischl, Austria, May 14-17, 2007.
Electrostatically Actuated Micromirror for Resonant Cavity Enhanced Detectors
MicroNanoFabrication Annual Review Meeting, Lausanne, Switzerland, May 8, 2007.
Narrowband Resonant Cavity Enhanced mid-IR Photodetectors tuneable within a broad wavelength region
EUROMBE 14, 14th European Molecular Beam Epitaxy Workshop, Granada, Spain, March 5-7, 2007.
2006
Resonant Cavity Photodetektoren für Infrarotsensoren mit durchstimmbarer Wellenlänge
Deutschsprachiger Workshop für Molekularstrahlepitaxie (DMBE), Hamburg, Germany, September 26-27, 2006.
2005
Towards High Frequency 3D Magnetic Resonators Exploring Microfabricated Bimorph Cantilever Structures
EPFL Latsis Symposium on Negative Refraction, Lausanne, Switzerland, February 28 - March 2, 2005.
Submicrometer Hall devices fabricated by focused electron-beam-induced deposition
Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science & Technology. 2005.
Submicrometer Hall devices fabricated by focused electron-beam-induced deposition
Applied Physics Letters. 2005.
DOI : 10.1063/1.1856134.
2004
Extended Depth-of-Field for Color Images in Light Microscopy: Image Fusion and 3D Visualization
Proceedings of the 2004 Annual Meeting of the Swiss Society of Biomedical Engineering (SSBE'04), Zürich, Switzerland, September 2-3, 2004.
1992
Etude cinétique de systèmes de faible énergie par une technique de saut de température
Lausanne, EPFL, 1992.
DOI : 10.5075/epfl-thesis-1070.