A design study is an opportunity to investigate a scientific question that interests you and relates to your course. You will formulate a hypothesis or design objective, explore it through analysis, simulations, or other suitable methods, and critically evaluate your findings.
The goal is not necessarily to make a new discovery or achieve a perfect design, but to develop your ability to think independently, justify your choices, and communicate your reasoning. Unexpected or inconclusive results can be just as valuable when they are carefully examined and understood.
These guidelines apply to three courses in our Photonics Teaching Program. The approach is shared, but the assessment requirements differ.
| Introduction to Lightwave Technologies | Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) | Integrated Nonlinear Photonics | |
|---|---|---|---|
| ECTS | 5 | 10 | 3 |
| Abstract, schematic, and references | Required | Required | Required |
| Written report | Not required | Required | Required |
| Oral examination | 20 min (10 + 10) | 20 min (10 + 10) | Not required |
All participants submit an abstract, a schematic, and selected references for early feedback from the teaching team. For courses with an oral examination, the 20 minutes comprise a 10-minute presentation followed by 10 minutes of questions and discussion.
For deadlines, submission procedures, and examination dates, see your course page:
Choose a topic that interests you and relates to your course. It could involve an optical device, a material, a physical phenomenon, or a photonic system. The challenge is to turn that broad interest into a focused question that you can investigate.
For example:
A good research question is specific enough to guide your work, yet open enough to explore different approaches and learn something unexpected.
A hypothesis is a reasoned prediction that you can investigate. A design objective identifies a performance goal you want to achieve, ideally with measurable criteria and realistic constraints.
For example, consider a dielectric channel waveguide at a fixed wavelength:
Research question: How does waveguide width affect the number of guided modes?
Hypothesis: Increasing the width will eventually allow higher-order guided modes to propagate.
Proposed investigation: Calculate or simulate the guided modes over a range of widths, examine their effective indices and field distributions, and estimate the single-mode operating range.
Not every study needs a conventional hypothesis. You might instead compare two device architectures, investigate whether a proposed system is feasible, or optimize a design for a particular application.
Your initial idea does not need to be perfect. It is a starting point that you can refine as your understanding develops.
Explore relevant research papers, textbooks, and technical resources to understand what is already known and identify useful approaches.
As you read, ask yourself:
The literature should help you develop and justify your investigation, rather than simply provide material to summarize. Evidence that challenges your initial hypothesis can be just as valuable as evidence that supports it.
Aim for a focused, feasible study that demonstrates sound scientific reasoning, even if the outcome is uncertain.
Before developing your design study in detail, prepare a short document introducing your proposed investigation. This is an opportunity to clarify your ideas and receive feedback from the teaching team while your project is still taking shape.
Begin with a short, descriptive title that reflects the focus of your proposed investigation.
Your document must then include the following three elements:
1. Abstract (150–250 words)
Briefly introduce your topic and explain its motivation. State the scientific question, hypothesis, or design objective you wish to explore, and outline how you plan to investigate it.
Where relevant, identify the main parameters or relationships you intend to examine and what you expect to learn. Focus on a specific investigation rather than a general overview of the topic.
You are not expected to have results at this stage. Do not include citations within the abstract itself.
2. Schematic (one figure)
Include a simple, clearly labelled schematic illustrating the central idea of your proposed study. This might represent a device, a photonic system, an experimental arrangement, or the key elements of an analytical or numerical investigation.
Aim for a diagram that you could explain and reproduce on a whiteboard in two or three minutes, using perhaps 5–10 simple shapes, labels, and arrows. This is a guideline for clarity, not a strict limit.
The purpose is to communicate the essential components, parameters, and physical relationships of your idea—not to produce an elaborate technical drawing.
3. Selected references (2–4 sources)
List two to four relevant references that you have already read and expect to use in your design study.
For each reference, briefly explain what you learned from it and how it informs your proposed investigation. A source might provide a physical model, a relevant result, a design benchmark, or evidence that supports or challenges your initial hypothesis.
Choose references that genuinely contribute to your understanding and reasoning.
Combine the title, abstract, schematic, and selected references into a single PDF document. The schematic and references do not count toward the abstract's 150–250-word limit. Consult your course page for submission deadlines and instructions.
Your abstract is a starting point, not a commitment to a particular outcome. The teaching team may suggest refining your question, reconsidering assumptions, exploring alternative approaches, or consulting additional literature.
Your ideas may evolve as you learn more. At this stage, what matters is a clear scientific direction, a thoughtful proposed approach, and enough background to make the feedback useful.
Once you have received feedback on your abstract, develop your investigation by exploring your question in greater depth. Your approach may involve analytical calculations, numerical simulations, experimental methods, or a combination of these, depending on your topic and the resources available.
Start by identifying the physical principles, assumptions, and parameters that matter most to your question. Then choose an approach that can help you investigate them.
For example, you might:
Whatever approach you choose, explain why it is appropriate for your question. Justify important assumptions and parameter choices, and consider how you can check whether your calculations or models are physically reasonable.
Simulations are useful when they help answer a question—not simply because they produce attractive plots. Where appropriate, examine parameter trends, compare with analytical predictions or published results, and check how sensitive your conclusions are to the assumptions you make.
Go beyond presenting calculations, figures, or proposed methods. Explain what they reveal about your original question.
Consider:
Be clear about what you have calculated, simulated, measured, or proposed. Distinguish established findings from predictions and ideas that remain to be tested.
If your study focuses on developing a methodology rather than obtaining results, explain what the proposed approach could establish, how its validity could be assessed, and what remains uncertain.
Unexpected, negative, or inconclusive findings can be valuable when you investigate their causes and interpret them carefully. A result that challenges your initial hypothesis is an opportunity to improve your understanding, not something to conceal.
A strong design study demonstrates scientific understanding, independent reasoning, and critical reflection. You should be able to:
The aim is not to produce the most complicated design or the largest number of results. A focused investigation that you understand, can explain, and can critically evaluate is more valuable than an ambitious study explored only superficially.
Applies to: Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) and Integrated Nonlinear Photonics. No written report is required for Introduction to Lightwave Technologies.
Your final report should present a clear, coherent account of your investigation: the question you explored, the approach you chose, the evidence you obtained or evaluated, and the conclusions you can draw.
Aim for approximately five pages, unless your course page specifies otherwise. Focus on the most relevant scientific content rather than trying to document every step of your work.
Introduction and motivation
Introduce your topic, explain its relevance, and clearly state your research question, hypothesis, or design objective.
Scientific background
Explain the physical principles and relevant literature needed to understand your study. Focus on what directly informs your investigation rather than attempting an exhaustive literature review.
Methodology and design
Describe your analytical, numerical, or experimental approach. Explain the relevant parameters, assumptions, and design choices, providing enough detail for the reader to understand how your investigation was carried out.
Results and discussion
Present your main findings using appropriate figures, calculations, or comparisons. Explain what they show, how they relate to your original question, and how they compare with theoretical expectations or published results.
Discuss important assumptions, uncertainties, and limitations. Distinguish clearly between results you have obtained, findings reported by others, and predictions that remain to be tested.
If your study is primarily methodological, explain the proposed approach, critically assess its feasibility and limitations, and describe how its validity could be established. Do not present anticipated results as completed findings.
Conclusion
Summarize the main insights from your investigation, what can reasonably be concluded, and which questions remain open.
References
Cite the scientific literature and other sources that informed your work. Use a consistent referencing style and make clear which ideas, methods, and results originate from external sources.
Write concisely and use clear scientific language. Figures should be readable, with informative captions, labelled axes, appropriate units, and consistent notation. Include only figures and equations that help explain your reasoning, and discuss their significance in the text.
The suggested structure is flexible: adapt it to your topic while maintaining a logical progression from question to approach, evidence, and conclusions.
For submission deadlines, file requirements, and submission procedures, consult your course page.
Applies to: Introduction to Lightwave Technologies and Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs). There is no oral examination for Integrated Nonlinear Photonics.
The examination lasts 20 minutes: a 10-minute presentation, followed by 10 minutes of questions and scientific discussion with the examiners.
Your presentation should communicate the central scientific argument of your design study: what you investigated, why it matters, how you approached it, and what you learned.
A useful structure is:
1. Motivation and research question
Introduce your topic, explain its relevance, and clearly state the scientific question, hypothesis, or design objective guiding your study.
2. Approach and methodology
Use your schematic to explain the physical principles, proposed device or system, and methods you chose. Highlight the most important design decisions and assumptions.
3. Findings and interpretation
Present your key calculations, simulations, comparisons, or feasibility considerations. Explain what they reveal and how they relate to your original question.
4. Conclusions and limitations
Summarize your main insights, acknowledge important limitations, and indicate what could be investigated further.
This structure is a suggestion, not a required slide sequence. Adapt it to your topic and focus on the aspects that best demonstrate your understanding.
Use clear figures and concise slides. A few well-explained results are more valuable than many figures presented without interpretation. Rehearse your presentation aloud to ensure that it fits within ten minutes.
The discussion is an opportunity to demonstrate your scientific understanding, explain your choices, and think critically about your investigation.
You might be asked:
The questions may also explore related concepts from the course that help explain or evaluate your design.
You are not expected to have an immediate answer to every question. If something is uncertain, explain what you know, reason through the problem, and identify what additional information would help resolve it.
The aim is to assess not only your findings, but also your understanding of the underlying physics, the reasoning behind your decisions, and your ability to discuss your work critically.
Looking for ideas? The resources below offer starting points for exploring photonics technologies, applications, and scientific questions.
You are welcome to explore topics beyond these examples. What matters is choosing a question that interests you, relates to your course, and can be investigated within the scope of your design study.
The following notes from JePPIX introduce applications, devices, and practical aspects of photonic integration. Browse the topics that interest you and consider which underlying scientific questions might be worth investigating.
Communications, sensing, and quantum technologies
Lasers, emerging applications, and integration
Fabrication, packaging, and characterization
These notes are intended to inspire possible directions, not to define the boundaries of your study. Use relevant scientific literature to investigate the underlying physics and develop your own question.
You may use analytical calculations or suitable simulation tools to investigate your question, including EMode Photonix.
Choose your methods according to the scientific question and make sure you understand their underlying assumptions and limitations. A thoughtful analytical investigation can be just as valuable as an elaborate numerical simulation.
Remember: These resources are starting points. The goal is not to reproduce an existing application or design, but to develop a focused question and investigate it using your own scientific reasoning.
You are encouraged to discuss ideas with your peers, ask questions, and seek feedback from the teaching team throughout your design study. These conversations can help you explore different perspectives, challenge assumptions, and develop a clearer understanding of your topic.
Your design study is individual work. You are welcome to exchange ideas and learn from others, but your investigation, analysis, and submitted work must reflect your own understanding and contributions.
For questions, submission instructions, and deadlines, please use the communication channels and information provided on your course page.
We look forward to hearing about your ideas and helping you develop them!
