General Physics Colloquium 'Squeezing light out of silicon' Brian Julsgaard IFA Silicon is one of the most important elements in modern technology as it forms the basis of electronics, micro-processors, etc. However, it has one major drawback: it is a very poor light emitter. Nonetheless, there is a long-standing desire to combine electronic and optical functionality on a silicon platform, which is known as silicon photonics. In the talk I will give a brief and selective review of silicon photonics, present some of our current activities using germanium nano-islands embedded in silicon, and discuss the possible future directions for our research. Coffee/tea and cake will be served at 3 PM.