INTERN SPOTLIGHT: SARA RIVZI
Sara Rizvi, an undergraduate applied physics major from Siena College, was originally attracted to apply for an AIM Photonics internship because it gave her a chance to explore something new. Initially, she expected to be working on a hands-on lab project, but was pleased to be assigned a fairly complex simulation project instead.
Using the MEEP software package on the RPI supercomputer to do her simulations, Rizvi’s work was focused on the optimization of polarization rotator/splitters.
“Control of the polarization state of light in photonic integrated circuits is important to understand how components will behave for transverse electric versus transverse magnetic light,” said AIM Photonics’ Electronic Photonic Design Automation (EPDA) Engineer Jobayer Hossain, who served as Rivzi’s mentor for the summer internship.
“The simulations that Sara is doing will ultimately help us develop an efficient polarization rotator and splitter, which in turn will help AIM Photonics’ members and customers design photonic integrated circuits for mode division multiplexing and sensor applications,” Hossain added.
“Although I was not expecting this experience, I was pleasantly surprised and have learned a lot, particularly when it comes to coding and simulations,” Rizvi said. “Through the simulations, I’ve learned much more about waveguides, MEEP, and simulating 2D and 3D figures.”
Rizvi sees a bright future, both for herself and for the U.S. integrated photonics industry. She plans to attend graduate school after finishing her undergraduate degree at Siena and then intends to continue working with other engineers.
“This internship gave me an insight on what it is like to work on projects with senior engineers,” she said. “Integrated photonics is the future. I believe it will dominate the market by helping us save energy and money.”
You can find out more about Sara Rizvi on her LinkedIn profile.
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Students Explore Integrated Photonics through Summer Internships at AIM Photonics