Andrea Blanco-Redondo
CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics, University of Central Florida, USAFor her discovery of pure-quartic solitons and pioneering contributions to topological quantum photonics.
Andrea Blanco-Redondo's career path has led her to a wide range of experiences all over the world. Characterized by wanting to understand fundamental aspects of the field and the need to develop new technologies, Andrea has a unique perspective spanning academia and industry. She became interested in nonlinear optics near the end of her undergraduate study in Spain, her home country. Her university didn't offer the in-depth study she desired, so she traveled to the UK to do a research project on Raman amplification. This was the project that hooked Andrea on photonics.
Returning to Spain, Andrea joined a research center called Tecnalia in a permanent research position while simultaneously pursuing her PhD. This was a challenging time but full of growth for the young researcher. She shares that from this time, she gained "a beneficial perspective on how to bridge that gap between fundamental research and more applied research that can be useful for industry." Her next decision was perhaps one of her career's most defining moments: she left a permanent research position and moved to Australia for a postdoc position at the University of Sydney. She was motivated by her desire to push deeper into the fundamental aspects of nonlinear optics and topological photonics and couldn't turn down the opportunity. Andrea remained in Australia following the postdoc for five years before getting recruited by Nokia Bell Labs in the United States. Andrea comments on the move, "I couldn't say no to the place where so many inventions that underpin my research came out of."
While at Bell Labs, Andrea learned how to manage people as head of the Silicon Photonics Research Department. She worked with mature and brilliant researchers, though still young and early in her career. Andrea's goal was to empower them to reach as high as they could, which she believes is the best metric of success for a mentor. In her current role at CREOL, she still manages people, but students require different mentorship. She relays advice from one of her mentors to her students: "Do not compromise." She admits that while compromise may be necessary, the idea is essential: "Life is full of challenges, but there are other ways around these challenges to get what you want."
Her work focuses on pushing the limits of quantum integrated circuits to create and measure quantum states of light, a new technology with essential and far-reaching applications. Using integrated photonics as a foundation, Andrea is looking to new classical and quantum sources. The most impactful application at this time is for telecommunications and datacom but quantum computing and sensing are just around the corner. She shares that power consumption is becoming a bottleneck for large data centers, which are the size of American football fields or larger, and carbon emissions are a growing concern. Andrea's work is still at a fundamental level, but the future looks promising for the technology to make a big difference in our highly connected world.
Optica has been essential to Andrea's development throughout her unique career. She has served Optica in several roles, from serving on conferences and awards committees and as an Associate Editor to leadership roles as an Ambassador and Board Member. The networking opportunities she found in all these capacities have been significant for her and are what keeps her coming back for more. Her role as an Optica Ambassador was particularly impactful. That year, while based in Australia, she traveled widely and made a point to visit remote student chapters and groups. These experiences, sharing her insights and conversing with the students, inspired not only the students but also herself.
Photo Credit: Andrea Blanco-Redondo
Profile written by Samantha Hornback
