The Microelectronics, Electromagnetics, and Photonics Group in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering is highly recognized around the world for its research programs in high-speed circuits and antennas, wireless and optical communications technology, and sensing (see Figure 1). The group is developing new technologies for 5G millimetre-wave wireless networks, software-defined multi-function microwave systems, selfdriving vehicles, critical infrastructure monitoring (e.g., rail, pipelines), quantum computing, and real-time precision medicine. Recent faculty hires have allowed the group to significantly expand their international research profile in the areas of 2D electronic materials (see Figure 2), bioelectronic sensors, wearable devices, silicon photonics, nanophotonics, metasurfaces, plasmonics, neuromorphic engineering, and superconducting optoelectronics.

Researchers set up a testbed for low-cost disposable optical-fibre strain sensors
Figure 1: Researchers set up a testbed for low-cost disposable optical-fibre strain sensors.

The laboratory infrastructure in Walter Light Hall features a wide range of millimetre-wave and optical test equipment, probe stations for on-wafer characterization of electronic devices and integrated circuits, and a newly built anechoic chamber for antenna measurements to 40 GHz (see Figure 3). The group’s test equipment and computational infrastructure have allowed faculty to establish thriving collaborations with a broad range of public- and privatesector organizations both in Canada and overseas.

Faculty have secured $20 million in Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and provincial investments up to the year 2020. This funding will go towards a multi-institutional program that gives researchers at Queen’s access to supercomputing infrastructure for the simulation of computationally-intensive electronic, photonic, optoelectronic, microfluidic, and other types of devices and systems.

Members of the research group have held a variety of editorial roles at high-impact journals, including multiple Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) publications, such as IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques, IEEE Microwave Magazine, IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, and IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics. They have also had leadership roles at conferences and with technical groups, including the IEEE/Optical Society of America (OSA) Conference on Optical Fiber Communication, the IEEE Photonics Society Summer Topical Meeting, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants Evaluation Group 1510, and the IEEE MTT-S Technical Coordinating Committee on Signal Generation and Frequency Conversion. They have been recognized with various distinctions such as a fellowship of the IEEE, a fellowship of the OSA, Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE Photonics Society, the Douglas R. Colton Medal, and the Young Scientist Award by the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society (LEOS) Japan Chapter. 

Graphene electronic tattoos, such as the structures on the person
Figure 2: Graphene electronic tattoos, such as the structures on the person’s forehead (darkened here for emphasis, usually barely visible), are a set of ultrathin, self-adherent, stretchable, optically transparent graphene-based sensors that can be used to measure skin temperature, skin hydration, and even electroencephalography (EEG) and electrocardiography (ECG).
An anechoic chamber for ultra-wideband antenna testing to 40 GHz for 5G communications
Figure 3: An anechoic chamber for ultra-wideband antenna testing to 40 GHz for 5G communications.

Researchers in this group: