What it was like attending NUSOD in Australia


By Gerardo Villarreal Garcia



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From 11 to 15 of July I attended the 16th International Conference on Numerical Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices (NUSOD) hosted this year by the University of Sydney, in Australia.
The event took place in recently inaugurated Sydney Nanoscience HUB, a multi million high-tech research and teaching facility funded by the Commonwealth Education Infrastructure Fund and the University of Sydney.
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Picture 1: The Sydney Nanoscience HUB

The NUSOD conference is a space where theory and practice meet in order for researchers to discuss the progress in numerical simulations and practical applications in photonics and electronics.The topics discussed during the week included simulations on semiconductor lasers, LEDs, photodetectors, solar cells, integrated photonics, etc. Four days in total of talks and one final day for practical workshops on how to model optic and optoelectronic devices using software such as COMSOL Multyphysics, Crosslight and Synopsys RSoft. You can consult the list of talks and posters in this link.
The conference began with the customary statement of Acknowledgement of Country, which the University of Sydney recognises and pay respect to the traditional owners of the land, followed later by a session in charge of australian colleagues. The first talk was an invited paper presented by  Benjamin J. Eggleton who spoke on the future of integrated nonlinear photonics and the harnessing of light-sound interactions.
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Picture 2: Gerardo standing with his poster during the conference

During the afternoon of the first two days a poster sessions took place. I presented a poster on a simulation of fabrication yield and detection efficiency enhancement of a superconducting nanowire single photon detector (SNSPD) fabricated on a silicon-on-insulator ring resonator. The poster was later awarded with the “best poster” prize.
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Picture 3: Gerardo winning the poster prize at NUSOD

Because a trip to Australia without koalas and kangaroos is simply incomplete, on the third day we visited the Taronga Zoo, a fantastic place with not only a huge variety of species but also a amazing view of the city centre and its skyscrapers.

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Later that night we had dinner in the Italian Village, a fancy restaurant in the Circular Quay with a spectacular view of the Opera House. After an appetising dinner and some engaging conversations with other conference attendees, Prof. Jim Piper, from Macquarie University, gave a speech about the first years of laser physics in Australia and its development until today.
Overall, I consider the event was a great opportunity to engage with people using the same tools I work with, to learn about new methods and new approaches to model electro optical devices and phenomena.
I would like to thank to the Alumni Foundation for the support they provided to make this trip happen.


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