Kristinn B. Gylfason

Kristinn Gylfason is researching nanophotonics and how it can be utilized to enhance our environmental monitoring and communication systems. The localization of hidden sources of greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide and methane, is becoming increasingly important due to global warming. Through the tools of nanophotonics, small and inexpensive gas sensors can be manufactured in large volumes to establish global networks of environmental monitoring sensors. Kristinn and his research team have developed miniaturized optical carbon dioxide and methane sensors that can be integrated into smartphones or flown around in drones to ensure air quality and locate emissions.

As the need for data communication continues to grow, a larger portion of our communication systems are becoming optical. By employing nanophotonic methods, energy-intensive microelectronic circuits can be replaced with light circuits capable of handling large amounts of data with minimal energy consumption. Kristinn and his research group have developed such light circuits that can dramatically reduce power consumption in data centers.