IPQ News 2020

We are proud to announce that one of the this year's winners of the SICK Science Award is Dr. Tobias Harter, who has been awarded with the Best Dissertation 2019.

About the Winner:
Dr. Tobias Harter's dissertation "Wireless Terahertz Communications: Optoelectronic Devices and Signal Processing",  Fakultät für Elektrotechnik und Informationstechnik, Advisor: Prof. C. Koos, Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics.

Short Abstract:

Nowadays, wireless networks are operated in the lower gigahertz range and are therefore limited in their bandwidth. Data transmission at carrier frequencies in Teraherzt (THz) range between 0.1 THz and 1 THz (T-waves) has the potential to overcome the current limitations of wireless networks. The work addresses various approaches to enhance the performance of T-wave systems. It discusses novel signal processing concepts, investigates novel optoelectronic devices for T-wave transmitters and receivers and validates the viability of the proposed systems by data transmission experiments. These have shown that the developed approaches significantly increase the performance of wireless networks and can also be transferred to other areas of application, such as THz spectroscopy.

Source: https://www.kcist.kit.edu/1026.php

Our research in the field of photonic-electronic signal processing has been selected as one of ten winners in the category “Engineering and Technology” at the 2020 Falling Walls Conference. Falling Walls presented breakthroughs in science and research at the "World Science Summit" of Falling Walls and the Berlin Science Week from November 1 to 10, 2020. The research was highlighted during the virtual Winners Session on November 8, 2020.  

September 2020: Researchers from IPQ/IMT have developed a novel concept for low-cost terahertz receivers that consist of a single diode in combination with a dedicated signal processing technique. In a proof-of-concept experiment, the team demonstrated transmission at a data rate of 115 Gbit/s and a carrier frequency of 0.3 THz over a distance of 110 meters. This demonstration is a first step towards future wireless networks of the 6th generation (6G) that will consist of a multitude of small radio cells that need to be connected by broadband communication links. In this context, wireless transmission at THz frequencies represents a particularly attractive and flexible solution. The results are reported in Nature Photonics (DOI: 10.1038/s41566-020-0675-0).

Original publication: Nature Photonics

KIT press release: German, English

July 2020: Jonas Krimmer and Md Mosaddek Hossain Adib were both awarded a Best Student Paper Award at the OSA Advanced Photonics Congress 2020 in the category NETWORKS. Md Mosaddek Hossain Adib was rewarded with honorable mentions for his paper "Coherent TWDM-PON Downstream Architecture Based on a Chip-Scale QD-MLLD." His work aims at improving the performance of passive optical fiber networks required for fiber to the home (FTTH) deployment. Jonas Krimmer won the first prize with his submission "Statistical Analysis of Free-Space-to-Fiber Coupling Under Atmospheric Turbulence," which investigates means to improve the reliability and performance of high-speed optical wireless communications using numerical simulations.

May 2020: IPQ researchers have demonstrated chiplet-based optical communication engines that exploit 3D-printed freeform waveguides as chip-chip connections. These so-called photonic wire bonds are fabricated in-situ onto the chips by advanced 3D lithography and can efficiently connect a wide variety of waveguide types on different integration platforms. By greatly simplifying the assembly of advanced photonic multi-chip modules, the technique has the potential to transform a variety of applications, ranging from high-speed communications and ultra-fast signal processing to optical sensing and quantum information processing.

Original publication: Light: Science & Applications

May 2020: 16 May 2020 is the 60th Anniversary of the invention of the laser by Maiman. On this occasion, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) has published a movie on important innovations related to laser light. Following the award of the Berthold Leibinger Innovationspreis to IPQ researchers in 2018, this movie also features our research on 3D-printed waveguides as one of such applications.

March, 2020: Philipp Trocha, PhD candidate at the IPQ, was recognized as Reviewer of the Month March 2020 in Nature Communications Physics for his exceptional contributions to peer review. With the award, the journal highlights the importance of a critical evaluation of new research before its publication.

Date:    February 18-19, 2020
Venue: Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ), Campus South, Bldg. 30.10., Engesserstrasse 5, 76131 Karlsruhe, Germany
Topic:   Workshop der ITG-Fachgruppe KT 3.1 Modellierung photonischer Komponenten und Systeme
Organization: Sebastian Randel (KIT, Local host)
Program (PDF, 65 KB)