From left to right: NRC President, Iain Stewart, Dr. Pavel Cheben, and Ian Shugart, the Clerk of the Privy Council and Secretary to the Cabinet.
Congratulations to Dr. Pavel Cheben for receiving the Public Service Award of Excellence, an honour that recognizes employees who have demonstrated excellence in achieving results for Canadians, and who reflect the priorities of the public service, while demonstrating key leadership competencies.
As a Principal Research Officer with the National Research Council of Canada's (NRC) Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre, it is no surprise that Dr. Cheben is widely regarded as the father of subwavelength integrated photonics, as his many discoveries have advanced numerous disciplines, and brought global attention to Canadian research. He was responsible for the discovery of a unique optical waveguide and integration of the Fourier transform spectrometer onto a monolithic chip that has light-gathering capabilities over 100 times that of conventional devices.
Currently, Dr. Cheben is 1 of the lead researchers working on the Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre's High-throughput and Secure Networks Challenge program, providing his scientific leadership and vision where most needed. Together with his colleagues in the Photonics group, Dr. Cheben is developing new integrated silicon nanophotonic components for datacom and telecom applications. This research includes core photonics technologies for telecom and datacom networks where efficient and broadband light coupling to silicon chips will enable higher data rates, and optical satellite communications, where chip-based optical beam steering will be required.