Integrated Photonics Education Kits (IPEK)

Hands-on learning for practical integrated photonics skills

The Integrated Photonics Education Kit (IPEK) is a packaged, lab-ready silicon photonics platform designed to give students hands-on experience with the characterization and testing of photonic integrated circuits (PICs). The kit enables learners to move beyond simulation and theory by directly interacting with real photonic devices and measurement workflows commonly used in research and industry.

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View example experiments
Downloads

Overview

The IPEK is designed to support laboratory-based instruction in integrated photonics by providing a compact, portable platform that exposes students to real photonic integrated circuits and measurement techniques. The kit was developed by engineers at UC San Diego in response to the growing need for practical, job-ready photonics skills in undergraduate and graduate education.

The kit is well-suited for use in:

• Undergraduate and master’s-level photonics or optoelectronics courses
• Teaching laboratories focused on device characterization and testing
• Short courses or workforce training programs introducing integrated photonics

Students use the kit to connect optical and electrical interfaces, perform measurements, and analyze device behavior using real data.

Details & Kit Components

What’s included

• Packaged silicon photonics chip containing multiple photonic building blocks
• Integrated devices such as:
  • Waveguides
  • Microring resonators
  • Bragg mirrors
  • Optical filters
  • Mach–Zehnder interferometer
• Integrated electrical heaters for device tuning
• [Placeholder: cables, adapters, or auxiliary components included in the kit]
• [Placeholder: student lab guides / instructor materials]

Additional equipment required (not included):

• [Placeholder: optical source (e.g., tunable laser)]
• [Placeholder: optical power meter or photodetector]
• [Placeholder: fiber handling accessories]
• [Placeholder: electrical power supply / driver for heaters]
• [Placeholder: computer and data analysis software]

Example Experiments

The IPEK supports a range of modular experiments that can be run independently or combined into a multi-week lab sequence. Example experiments include:

Waveguide transmission

• Measure optical transmission through integrated waveguides.
• Explore loss and coupling behavior.
  

Microring resonator characterization

• Observe resonant behavior in microring devices.
• Measure resonance shifts and spectral features.
  

Bragg mirror devices

• Compare the behavior of Bragg mirrors and Bragg cavities.
• Examine reflection and filtering effects.

Mach–Zehnder interferometer (MZI)

• Explore optical interference effects.
• Observe phase-dependent transmission behavior.

Thermal tuning

• • Use integrated heaters to electrically tune photonic devices.
  • Study the relationship between electrical input and optical response.

Learning Objectives

By completing laboratory activities using the IPEK, students can:

Integrated photonics fundamentals

• Develop an understanding of how common photonic integrated circuit building blocks function within a silicon photonics platform.
• Observe how design choices translate into measurable optical behavior.
  

Practical characterization skills

• Configure optical test setups to measure transmission and spectral response.
• Collect and interpret experimental data from photonic devices.
• Gain experience with tuning and controlling integrated photonic components.
  

Systems-level thinking

• Understand how multiple photonic elements interact within a single chip.
• Connect device-level measurements to higher-level circuit functionality.

Purchasing Inquiries

The IPEK is available for purchase and use by academic institutions and training programs interested in hands-on integrated photonics education.

To inquire about pricing and availability of kits, please contact:

[Name]
[Title / Affiliation]
[Email address]

Or complete the inquiry form below:

• Name
• Email
• Institution / organization
• Number of kits requested
• Preferred timeline
• Additional questions or needs

Downloads

• General public materials
  • .pdf: IPEK Datasheet
• Technical information (I think this should be freely accessible to any visitor of the website, but it could also be paywalled/password protected depending on what others think)
  • .zip: Curriculum: PDF lab assignments, presentation slides, Lumerical files
  • .zip: Example data measured on real IPEK kits (data which Ian is in the process of taking). Includes raw data for some of the plots shown in the “Examples” page