Integrated microwave photonics

Currently, digital electronic circuits are the most widely used approaches for these applications; however, the sampling speed of digital electronics is normally less than several gigahertz. The unique capabilities of photonics for processing ultrawide bandwidth signals, where high-frequency microwave signals are only a tiny fraction of the carrier’s optical frequency, make it a promising solution to meet our ever-increasing demand for expanding the capacity of information and communication systems and networks.

We are developing microwave photonic devices and subsystems to effectively handle high-speed, broadband signals in advanced communications systems and information processing, and high performance sensors with high sensitivity and high selectivity. Nanoscale integration technologies enable us to create devices that are small and lightweight, and have low power consumption, strong immunity to electromagnetic interference, and high mobility. 

The outcomes are new high-performance integrated microwave photonic signal processors, which will produce significant improvements in wireless/optical communications, radar/antenna systems and sensors.