Among fibre optics, chips and mud

On 28 October, Ivana Gasulla, Researcher, Professor and Entrepreneur at the Universitat Politècnica de València, was recognised as one of the 100 world reference figures in the field of photonics. Electro-Optics journal, one of the publications with the greatest international impact in the sector, included her in the latest edition of The Photonics 100.

Every year, this ranking highlights 100 of the world's leading scientists, engineers and business leaders whose work contributes to transforming sectors such as aerospace, telecommunications and quantum technologies, among others. And among them is Ivana Gasulla.

Her daily life - like that of so many people in the province of Valencia - changed radically just a few hours after her recognition. Ivana Gasulla is from Benetússer; she has lived there since she was born. And there she continues to work to recover the normality of her town and her research. Photonic circuits, fibre optics, hours of study and reflection to publish her following paper were replaced by shovels, baskets, wellington boots and many hours of bailing out water, mud, furniture...

‘Photonic technology to prevent disasters like this one’

‘In one day, our lives changed in ways we could never have imagined. It's been a very contrasting few weeks, where, obviously, first things first. Little by little, we are trying to get back to normality. Still, we are aware that months of work and solidarity lie ahead to try to get the affected areas back to life, which was cut short on 29 October. Looking around us at the thousands of Valencian businesses and small companies that will probably never get back on their feet again, I feel lucky that our work at the UPV will be able to continue. Moreover, this tragedy leads me to reflect on how our research in photonic technologies can help, firstly, to prevent disasters of this kind, for example, by means of fibre optic systems to monitor the state of civil infrastructures or river flows and, secondly, to rebuild damaged telecommunications systems and provide extraordinary service to these areas,' reflects Ivana Gasulla.

A valuable recognition

Regarding the award, Ivana says that being on this list of The Photonics 100 is a valuable recognition of the research work that her group carries out in two highly relevant fields: fibre optics with spatial multiplexing and programmable photonics. ‘Beyond a simple personal achievement, this distinction highlights the collective effort of an exceptional team of researchers who work with me in the PhotonicsResearch Labs of the iTEAM institute and the UPV spin-off iPronics Programmable Photonics,' she adds.

Key research for AI data centres

In the short and medium term, Ivana says her challenges focus on advancing system integration and parallelisation, both in the field of new fibre optic distribution networks and signal processing using integrated programmable photonics. 'Our research spans a wide range of sectors and, in the current scenario, is particularly relevant to the data centre and server infrastructures that underpin artificial intelligence. The aim is to increase transmission capacity and flexibility while reducing latency and power consumption,' says the UPV researcher.

With Ivana Gasulla, there are now four members of the Universitat Politècnica de València who, in recent years, have been recognised as international benchmarks by The Photonics. They are, specifically, Jose Capmany, leader of the PRL-ITEAM of the UPV; Pascual Muñoz, director of UPVfab; and Daniel Pérez, current CTO of iPronics Programmable Photonics.

‘This recognition gives us the necessary boost to continue with our mission to explore new frontiers in photonics research that will translate into a positive impact on our society,’ says Ivana Gasulla from her home in Benetússer, which is gradually returning to normality that will still take a long time to become real, and where mud is still mixed with fibre optics and chips.

About Ivana Gasulla Mestre

Ivana Gasulla Mestre is a researcher in the Photonics Research Labs (PRL) group at the iTEAM Institute and a lecturer at the Polytechnic School of Gandia at the UPV. Her research focuses mainly on microwave and optical signal processing together with innovative multicore and few-mode fibre optic architectures. She has more than 150 international publications, many of them in high-impact journals such as Nature Communications and Nature Photonics. She was awarded one of the prestigious European Research Council Consolidator Grants. She is currently Deputy Economic Director of the iTEAM Research Institute and Senior Editor for the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, among other positions.

On her entrepreneurial side, she is co-founder of the UPV spin-off, iPronics Programmable Photonics, which in 2020 was recognised by Nature as one of the 32 best spin-offs to follow worldwide.

Luis Zurano Conches UPV Communication Area (ACOM)