Francesco Ceccarelli received the Master’s Degree (summa cum laude) in Electronics Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano (Italy) in 2014 and the Ph.D. (with honors) in Information Technology from the same university in 2018, with a dissertation on custom-technology single-photon avalanche diode arrays.
Since 2020 he is permanent researcher at the Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies (IFN) of the Italian National Research Council (CNR). His current research activity involves the development of integrated optical circuits for applications in quantum optics and quantum information theory. This activity is based on femtosecond laser writing (FLW), i.e. the direct inscription of three-dimensional optical circuits in glass substrates by using a femtosecond laser. In particular, the focus of the research is manifold. Firstly, the fabrication of thermal phase shifters with high integration density and the development of new technological strategies to improve their reconfiguration performance. Secondly, the characterization/control of complex thermally-actuated FLW devices and the investigation of novel structures for the implementation of large universal photonic processors (UPPs). Last, but not least, the hybrid integration of FLW optical circuits within photolithography-based platforms like silicon photonics and silicon nitride in order to complement and enhance the features of such circuits.
