Kam Y. Lau

Professor Emeritus

Research Areas

• Communications & Networking (COMNET)
• Optoelectronic devices; Microwave and millimeter wave signal transport over optical fiber links

Research Centers

• Microfabrication Lab (Microlab)

Biography

Prof. Kam Y. Lau received his B.S. in Engineering & Applied Sciences and M.S. in Electrical Engineering, both in 1978, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering in 1981, all from the California Institute of Technology. Upon graduation in 1981 Dr. Lau joined Ortel Corporation as founding staff/Chief Scientist. He worked on fundamental aspects of high-speed analog lasers, leading to high-speed linear (analog) fiber-optic transmission system product offerings for the national defense industry (antenna remoting for air defense systems and remote fast analog data recording in intense radioactive environments.) These defense-related products and technologies were subsequently adapted for Hybrid-Fiber-Coax (HFC) networks – the foundational infrastructure for present-day commercial CATV services and cable-modem Internet access. The dominance of Ortel in this important market segment led to the company’s successes – its IPO in 1994 and subsequent acquisition by Lucent (NYSE: LU) in 2000. In 1988, he joined the faculty of the Electrical Engineering Department at Columbia University as Associate Professor and served as Director of Lightwave Communication Laboratory of the NSF Center for Telecommunications Research at the university. In 1990 he was offered a full professorship in the EECS Department at U.C Berkeley, where he continued his research on high speed optoelectronic devices and microwave and millimeter wave signal transport over optical fiber links until 2005, when he assumed Emeritus status.

In 1995 Prof. Lau co-found LGC Wireless, Inc. (“L” of “LGC”, “G” and “C” being his students at U.C. Berkeley) of San Jose, CA. – an in-building wireless signal distribution equipment provider, and served as its founding chairman until 2000. Based on its unique, patented wireless signal transport technology LGC became a market leader and set the industrial standard for in-building wireless coverage and capacity solutions worldwide – with major installations of its equipments in over 100 countries on every continent. Notable major installations include the three NY city commercial airports – JFK, Newark and LaGuardia; PETRONAS twin tower office building in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, FCC headquarter building in Washington D.C., Cedars Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory of Berkeley, California, OSI Pharmaceuticals; in addition to major hotel/casinos in Las Vegas such as the Venetian and MGM Grand.

LGC Wireless was acquired by ADC Telecom, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADCT) in 2007. Academically, Prof. Lau is author or co-author of over 200 journal articles and conference presentations and author of a monograph “Ultra-High Frequency Linear Fiber-Optic Systems”, Springer Verlag, 2009. He is holder of 28 U.S. patents. A Fellow of both the IEEE and the Optical Society of America, he received the William Streifer Scientific Achievement Award, and a Distinguished Lecturer Award, both in 1996 from the IEEE Lasers and Electro-Optics Society. He received the 2008 Nicholas Holonyak Award from Optical Society of America and the 2009 David Sarnoff Award from IEEE, all citing his aforementioned fundamental contributions to high frequency direct modulation of semiconductor laser diodes which constitutes the engine for the linear fiber-optic systems, widely deployed in Hybrid Fiber Coax (HFC) for cable TV services and cable modem internet access today.

Selected Publications

• L. P. Chen and K. Y. Lau, "Regime where zero-bias is the low-power solution for digitally modulated laser diodes," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 185-187, Feb. 1996.
• D. M. Cutrer and K. Y. Lau, "Ultralow power optical interconnect with zero-biased, ultralow threshold laser--How low a threshold is low enough?," IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 4-6, Jan. 1995.
• K. Y. Lau, C. M. Gee, T. R. Chen, N. Bar-Chaim, and I. Ury, "Signal-induced noise in fiber-optic links using directly modulated Fabry-Perot and distributed-feedback laser diodes," IEEE J. Lightwave Technology, vol. 11, no. 7, pp. 1216-1225, July 1993.
• K. Y. Lau, "Narrow-band modulation of semiconductor lasers at millimeter wave frequencies (>100 GHz) by mode locking," IEEE J. Quantum Electronics, vol. 26, no. 2, pp. 250-261, Feb. 1990.
• K. Y. Lau, P. L. Derry, and A. Yariv, "Ultimate limit in low threshold quantum well GaAlAs semiconductor lasers," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 52, no. 2, pp. 88-90, Jan. 1988.
• Y. Arakawa, K. Vahala, A. Yariv, and K. Y. Lau, "Enhanced modulation bandwidth of GaAlAs double heterostructure lasers in high magnetic fields: Dynamic response with quantum wire effects," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 47, no. 11, pp. 1142-1144, Dec. 1985.
• K. Y. Lau and A. Yariv, "Invited Paper: Ultra-high speed semiconductor lasers," IEEE J. Quantum Electronics, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 121-138, Feb. 1985.
• K. Y. Lau, N. Bar-Chaim, I. Ury, and A. Yariv, "11-GHz direct modulation bandwidth GaAlAs window laser on semi-insulating substrate operating at room temperature," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 45, no. 4, pp. 316-318, Aug. 1984.
• K. Y. Lau, C. Harder, and A. Yariv, "Direct modulation of semiconductor lasers at f > than 10 GHz by low-temperature operation," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 44, no. 3, pp. 273-275, Feb. 1984.
• K. Y. Lau, N. Bar-Chaim, I. Ury, C. Harder, and A. Yariv, "Direct amplitude modulation of short-cavity GaAs lasers up to X-band frequencies," Applied Physics Letters, vol. 43, no. 1, pp. 1-3, July 1983.