With more than 90% of bits that traverse the Internet being transported optically, photonics is the light bearer of the modern information age. Besides its offerings for an enormous communication bandwidth, it also contributes with its energy efficiency, which is key to operate Exascale cloud datacenters.
In particular, we focus on the introduction of optical communications to short-reach networks and further investigate methods for optical access, mobile fronthauling and optical wireless technology in the fixed-mobile communication continuum of 6G networks.
As photonics becomes a ubiquitous enabler for applications beyond those centric to the realm of data and quantum communications, we are also active in the fields of photonic sensing and further exploit photonics for the purpose of data processing. Exemplary works include LIDAR technology and neuromorphic hardware architectures for efficient computing and demanding AI applications.
Moreover, with photonic integrated circuits being considered as a key enabler for efficient signal generation, transmission and transformation, our activities include component-centric investigations on silicon and III-V platforms – and their co-integration with electronics.