Measurement of ultra-high bandwidth signals with integrated devices

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Thomas Schneider
• Subject Area: Electronic Semiconductors, Components and Circuits, Integrated Systems, Sensor Technology, Theoretical Electrical Engineering ; Communication Technology and Networks, High-Frequency Technology and Photonic Systems, Signal Processing and Machine Learning for Information Technology
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 454954953

In physics, biology and engineering the bandwidths of the signals to analyse steadily increase. According to the Cisco Visual Networking Index Forecast, the number of devices connected to the internet will be three times the global population in 2022, for instance. Correspondingly, the global internet traffic will increase threefold over the next five years. Worldwide crisis like Covid-19 have additionally pushed the data rates in the networks with a dramatic shift from business centers to residential areas. The increasing data-rates raise the demands on the electrical signal processing and measurement in the global communication networks. Current solutions that rely on electronics are limited by inefficient energy consumption and heat dissipation. In this project, we develop alternative schemes for the measuring of high-bandwidth signals that are based on Photonics: silicon devices that process light waves instead of electronics. Photonics solutions enable ultra-high bandwidth signal measurement and they are immune against electromagnetic interference. We look to combine between photonic devices and mature electronics technology to achieve complete signal measurement solutions, supporting the demands of tomorrow. Specific research objectives include integrated devices for the measurement of ultrahigh-bandwidth signals in the time- and frequency domains with twice the sampling rate of current cutting-edge electronic oscilloscopes and a resolution one order of magnitude higher than current optical spectrometers. These methods will pave the way to small-footprint, low-cost measurement chips, which are able to monitor and measure bandwidths in the THz range for different application fields in physics, biology and engineering including sensing, spectroscopy and communications.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: Israel
• International Co-Applicant: Professor Avinoam Zadok, Ph.D.