About

The Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre was established in 2020 to create impactful integrated photonic technologies through continuous end-user engagement to deeply understand real-world problems.

Our team pioneers breakthrough science in the field of integrated photonics coupled with rapid and systematic iterations to deliver a consistent stream of outcomes to end users. 

We are determined to be pioneers of fundamental science and cutting-edge technology but with a commitment and track-record in translating this technology into practical solutions.  

Our Centre aims to address real world problems in three areas of focus spanning the data, defence and biomedical fields.

Biomedical applications

Rather than taking days in the lab, viruses can be detected faster and more accurately on site at a doctor’s clinic or in a patient’s home, all directly at the point of care.

Defence applications

Faster and more precise sensing will make self-driving cars safer, autonomous space-borne objects (like satellites) more controllable, and defence systems more accurate.

Data communications applications

Complex and isolated systems can be turned into tiny chips that provide blazing fast internet speeds.

InPAC Annual Reports

InPAC-annual-report-2022-cover2-960X640.jpg

2022 Annual Report

Read about our third year as a Centre as we got back on our feet after the COVID-19 restrictions had largely been lifted.

Director's report 2022

Looking back on what we have achieved since our last annual report, I am amazed at the difference a year has made and so proud of the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre (InPAC) team in making 2022 such a spectacular year. 

The year began with our team getting back on our feet – the COVID-19 restrictions had largely been lifted, but the disruption to supply chains and team members stuck overseas continued to have a major impact. By the end of the year, we were focused on ensuring operations and projects were back on track, including PhD students focusing on completing their theses. 

This period also occurred with a backdrop of the submission and interview for the ARC Centre of Excellence in Optical Microcombs for Breakthrough Science (COMBS) – which demanded a lot of our focus in the first half of 2022. The second half of 2022 involved us rebooting a lot of our activities and routines (along with a nervous wait for the Centre of Excellence outcome!). Despite these challenges we have managed to get most of our major projects back on track and achieve the outcomes that we had proposed in mid-2019 prior to the pandemic. This is a testament to the hard work, imagination and dedication of the whole InPAC team. 

Through 2022, we have expanded our collaborations with new industry partners, such as Future Fibre Technologies and the SmartCrete Cooperative Research Centre. Additionally, we focused on engaging more with international partners, particularly through the Australia France Network of Doctoral Excellence (AUFRANDE) $15.7M project, which has set the platform to help educate the next generation of more than 60 STEM researchers and establish RMIT as an international leader in industry focused research. 

Beyond RMIT, team leader Andy Boes has effectively set himself up in South Australia, allowing us to further broaden our network. Our partnership with Arthur Lowery also led to research published in prestigious journals such as Nature, which is a significant accomplishment. 

Additionally, several team members, including Armandas Balčytis, Haijin Huang, Bill Corcoran, and Andy Boes, raised their profiles in 2022 through their outstanding work and achievements such as receiving Future Fellowships and winning a Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. 

I believe we are in a strong position going into 2023 with our new capabilities, laboratories and collaborations. I am excited to continue this upward trajectory, to be pushing the boundaries in becoming the world-leading centre in photonic chips. 

Let’s see what 2023 has in store for us! 

– Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell

Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell

Director of the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre

inpac-annual-report-2021-cover-960x640.jpg

2021 Annual Report

Read about our second year as a Centre as COVID-19 continued to challenge the world.

The second year of our Centre was the second year of a pandemic. We built on our strategy of pro-active online engagement, which worked well in 2020. This year brought new opportunities that stemmed from new challenges – including the sustained border closures and global supply chain issues. This year we focussed on building momentum for the long-term so that we are well resourced and energised, ready for when the world springs back into action. 

We grew our team to 40, up from 25 in 2020. I am immensely proud of our growing team for a number of achievements. These began within the first week of 2021, with a Nature paper that demonstrated the world’s fastest and most powerful optical ‘brain-like’ processor. This was a collaborative effort led by Swinburne, in collaboration with our team and Monash University.  

In 2021, our Centre’s first spin out company, HatiSens, was launched, to allow faster heart attack detection to guide clinical treatment. This industry-pull is exactly the place the Centre wants to play in, and it’s heartening to see a spinout so early on in our Centre’s life.  

I was also delighted to see RMIT Univwersity ranked in the top 250 universities in the world. Of particular relevance to our Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre (InPAC) was the positioning of Electrical and Electronic Engineering (80th) and Optics (85th) – well into the top 100 globally and still rising fast! We see this as recognition that RMIT is among the world’s best research environments – particularly in optics and photonics. This will help us to attract world leading students and research translation partners to continue this upward trajectory. 

This year we put extra effort into building new initiatives as an investment in the long term future.  Early feedback is positive and I look forward to seeing these come to fruition in 2022. I see next year as a pivotal year in establishing InPAC as a world leader in research and translation of integrated photonic technology.

 – Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell, Director of the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre (InPAC)

A hand holding up a report with the words 'Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre Annual Report 2020'

2020 InPAC Annual Report

Read about InPAC’s first stellar year as a Centre in a COVID-19 challenged world in 2020.

It’s been an exciting year for photonics as an industry, and also for our Centre to have grown so much already in its first year with 26 team members. 

Our Centre focuses particularly on integrated photonics – where an entire photonic and electronic circuit can be printed on the surface of a microchip. We require deep insight into fundamental physics, theory and materials science to manipulate photons in structures with sub-micron dimensions, but also the advanced technology and design approaches that can enable these integrated photonic chips to be manufactured at scale. Bridging this gap between breakthrough science and industrial application is where our Centre provides most value – here we can connect researchers with fresh ideas to industry and end-users with important problems in Australia and around the world.

The current state of play

You may not realise how significant photonics is to Australia. The broad range of applications powered by photonics has made it a booming industry, contributing $4.3 billion per year to the Australian economy. This is equivalent to the $4.3 billion farmgate production of the dairy industry in Australia. We knew photonics was important to Australia, but even we were surprised by this finding. This staggering number was found in a report we helped produce with the Australian and New Zealand Optical Society (ANZOS) that surveyed hundreds of Australian and New Zealand companies about their manufactured goods that use photonics. The report also found that the industry employs more than 9,500 people in high-tech, high-productivity jobs. Photonics is poised to expand the country’s manufacturing sector and help drive economic growth.  

It is in this context that we have launched the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre. There is major end-user need for photonics in our own economy and great potential to grow this by harnessing the emerging capabilities of integrated photonics. We just need to find these industries and work with them to learn how integrated photonics can transform the products into world-leading solutions, while reassuring them that taking the first few steps can be quick, inexpensive and have a clear pathway to scale. 

At a global scale, photonic chip-enabled industries are predicted to grow exponentially over the coming years. Currently, this is dominated by photonic chips for data centres, but other applications such as sensors are growing rapidly. We see strong interest from Australian industry as well. As you will see in this report, we are currently engaging with industries including Defendtex, MOGLabs, Advanced Navigation, Baraja, Nirtek, BluGlass and many more that are highly interested in photonic chip sensors and we believe this is just the beginning. 

This strong interest from Australian industry is crucial to achieve the InPAC vision.  We need this ‘pull’ from sectors outside academia to drive and motivate our research and to take our ideas and indeed our research trainees forward to achieve real-world impact. As we build our momentum, I believe that soon we can create a complete world-leading manufacturing base for photonic chips, right here in Australia. Creating and developing a sustainable photonic chip research and industrial ecosystem is a major purpose of InPAC.  

The InPAC vision also relies on multi-disciplinarity and diversity. As you will see in this report there is vast multi-disciplinarity across the Centre and I am particularly proud of the diversity in background, career stage and gender of our doctoral candidates. However, as we move forward, we need to work to ensure the same balance is maintained in our early career researchers and our team leaders. We are making some progress here, but we need to do more and this will be a major focus for 2021.  

Overall, given the circumstances of our launch year, I think 2020 has been absolutely stellar and I look forward to what’s to come in 2021 and beyond!


– Distinguished Professor Arnan Mitchell, Director of the Integrated Photonics and Applications Centre (InPAC)

Our case studies

aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Luwaytini' by Mark Cleaver, Palawa.

aboriginal flag
torres strait flag

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.