In 2002, he cofounded Axiom Microdevices Inc. together with his former students Ichiro Aoki and Scott Kee based on their invention of the Distributed Active Transformer, which made it possible to integrate RF CMOSpower amplifiers suitable for cellular phones in CMOS technology. Axiom shipped hundreds of millions of units before it was acquired by Skyworks Solutions in 2009. He and his students also demonstrated the world's first radar-on-a-chip in silicon technology in 2004, showing a 24-GHz 8-element phased array receiver and a 4-element phased array transmitter in CMOS. These were followed by a 77-GHz phased array transceiver with on chip antennas that established the highest level of integration in mm-wave frequency applications and was a complete radar-on-a-chip. They also developed a fully scalable phased array architecture in 2008, making it possible to realize very-large-scale phased arrays. He and his team are also responsible for the development of an all-silicon THz imager system, where an integrated CMOS microchip was used in conjunction with a second silicon microchip to form an active THz imaging system, capable of seeing through opaque objects. They demonstrated various phased array transmitters around 0.3THz with beam steering using the distributed active radiator architecture in 2011. Various applications of this system appear in security, communications, medical diagnostics, and the human-machine interface. In 2013, he and some of his team members demonstrated a complete self-healing power amplifier, which through an integrated self-healing strategy, could recover from various kinds of degradation and damage including aging, local failure, and intentional laser blasts. Between 2014 and 2018, his lab demonstrated several major advances in imaging, projection, and sensing technology on silicon photonic platforms. In 2014, they showed the first silicon nanophotonic optical phased array transmitter capable of dynamic and real-time image projection, therefore serving as a lensless projector. In 2015, he and his group constructed a 3D coherent camera via a silicon nanophotonic coherent imager that performed direct 3D imaging at meter range with a 15-micron depth resolution. In 2016, they devised and implemented a one-dimensional integrated optical phased array receiver which could image a barcode directly from the surface of a chip, followed in 2017 by an integrated two-dimensional optical phased array receiver capable of imaging simple 2D patterns without a lens using a very thin optical synthetic aperture of a few microns, thereby demonstrating a lensless flat camera for the first time. In 2018, they demonstrated the world's first all-integrated optical gyroscope, whose principle of operation is based on the Sagnac effect. He and his team have also developed systems and technologies for wireless power transfer at a distance. In 2017, he co-founded GuRu Wireless, which commercializes wireless power transfer technology for consumers.
Awards
Hajimiri is a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. He was selected to the world's top 35 innovators under 35 at age 32. He is an IEEE Fellow and has been the recipient of numerous other awards. He was recognized as one of the top 10 authors in the 60-year history of ISSCC in 2013. He holds more than 100 granted U.S. patents. He was one of 45 scientists invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in 2016. As of 2019, roughly half of his graduated PhD students have gone on to become university faculty members. Hajimiri has also won a number of prizes as an educator, such as the Richard P. Feynman Prize for Excellence in Teaching, Caltech's most prestigious teaching award, as well as awards from Caltech's undergraduate and graduate student councils. His online lectures on YouTube are a popular source of continued education worldwide.
