Photonics West 2022

The Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) is a world leader in the development for mobile and optical communication networks and systems as well as processing and coding of video signals. Together with international partners from research and industry, Fraunhofer HHI works in the whole spectrum of digital infrastructure – from fundamental research to the development of prototypes and solutions.

At Photonics West 2022 Fraunhofer HHI presents the latest developments in Photonic Components and Fiber Optical Sensor Systems at Fraunhofer Booth 4429-02, from Janauary 25-27 in San Francisco, USA.

Sensing and communications

Terahertz systems for sensing and wireless communications

We present the next generation of fiber-coupled terahertz modules for applications in spectroscopy and non-destructive testing as well as 6G communications.

Our newly developed semiconductor layers raise the terahertz output power to 637 µW and increase the dynamic range by 10 dB. This leads, for example, to a significant improvement in the reliability of thickness determination of very thin layers.

With 6G wireless communication, our terahertz modules allow optically modulated signals (e.g. quadrature amplitude modulation) to be transmitted directly into wireless communication channels at carrier frequencies of around 100 GHz to 500 GHz. This was used to demonstrate a data transfer rate of more than 100 GB/s in the 300 GHz band.

BLAST – Highly Emissive Black Laser Structured Surfaces

Laser structured surfaces with maximized thermal emissivity for efficient cooling in space

Deep black laser structured surfaces on Al, Ti and steel which provide a thermal emissivity of e >95 % are demonstrated. These surfaces are applied for efficient radiative cooling of electronic boxes in harsh environments such as spaceflight.

Hybrid PICs

The best of all worlds

Fraunhofer HHI’s PolyBoard enables the hybrid integration of active and passive optical functionalities into complex and highly functional photonic integrated circuits. Building blocks include tunable lasers at VIS and NIR wavelengths as well as thin film filters for polarization and wavelength handling. Furthermore, the micro-optical bench allows for the on-chip integration of optical isolators and circulators, and nonlinear crystals for quantum technologies.

High-Speed Photodetector Modules

Components for 1Tb/s Transmission and Microwave Photonics

Fraunhofer HHI provides single and balanced photodetector modules with a bandwidth up to 145 GHz operating from the O- to the L-band. The intended application for the modules is test and measurement. For the application of microwave photonics dedicated high-power photodetector modules are presented.

Paper presentations with participation of Fraunhofer HHI

Steffen Breuer (Fraunhofer HHI)
Strain-free semiconductor saturable absorber mirror (SESAM) for ultrashort laser pulse generation at 1.56 µm
January 24, 2022, 2:30 PM - 2:50 PM (PST)

Martin Schell (Fraunhofer HHI):
Hybrid photonic integration for communication, sensing and quantum technology (invited)
January 24, 2022, 4:50 PM - 5:20 PM (PST)

Felix Fobbe (Ruhr-Univ. Bochum)
THz generation with photoconductive emitters with a low-noise GHz repetition rate laser
January 25, 2022, 4:20 PM - 4:40 PM (PST)

Mario Gerecke (PicoQuant GmbH)
High bandwidth photon detection enabled by a massively parallelized system
January 26, 2022, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (PST)

Bradley W. Snyder (PHIX Photonics Assembly):
Assembly of mobile 5G transceiver based on photonic motherboard
January 27, 2022, 9:10 AM - 9:40 AM (PST)

Robin Terhaar (Westfälische Wilhelms-Univ. Münster)
Multi-channel waveguide-integrated superconducting nanowire single-photon detector system for ultrafast quantum key distribution
January 27, 2022, 1:45 PM - 2:00 PM (PST)

Presentation times are still subject to chance and will be finalized on January 19. We will keep you updated.