Matthew is a Mitacs Industrial Accelerate Postdoctoral Research Fellow at UBC’s Blusson QMI and Dream Photonics. He earned his BSc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from The University of Calgary, Canada, in 2012 and 2020, respectively, and was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal for his Ph.D. thesis work on fabricating photonic devices from single-crystal diamond, which he utilized to demonstrate optomechanically mediated wavelength conversion and amplification of light. This work was an important step towards building a quantum computer based on solid-state qubits, like the nitrogen-vacancy center in diamond.

After joining Blusson QMI in 2020, Matthew’s research shifted to focus on the hybrid integration of optical components such as lasers, semiconductor optical amplifiers, and optical fibers with silicon photonic integrated circuits using tools that allow for 3D printing of micrometer-scale optical waveguides and lenses. As this technology has the potential to solve the packaging bottleneck of the photonics industry, many organizations are eager to demo this technology in their products. This provided an opportunity to commercialize the research at Dream Photonics by offering assembly technologies specifically engineered for each client’s product or application. Matthew was awarded the 2023 Mitacs Award for Commercialization for spearheading over a dozen innovative research and development projects in advanced optical package prototyping with Canadian and international commercial partners. He leads the photonic integration team at Dream Photonics, which is currently growing in response to demand for these needs.

Image: (left to right): Matthew Mitchell, Georges Kaddoum, Gary Bogdani, Resa Eslami, Bern Klein, Glenda Watson Hyatt, John Hepburn (Mitacs CEO), Kirsty Choquette, Ketul Patel and Hannah Fronenberg.

Get in touch with Matthew here.

Learn more about Matthew’s Mitacs Award for Commercialization here.