Two honors grants for talented and research-oriented students

Identifying talent early and providing even better support is the goal of the Honours Program for Research-Oriented Students de. Two (out of a total of 63 this year), are working with us here at Beutenberg: the two Master of Photonics students Richard Kindler and Domenica Bermeo-Alvar de.

With practical relevance to everyday research, both applied together with a supervising scientist and their own small research project. This is intended to help provide in-depth insights into research processes during their studies and prepare them for a scientific career.

Ms. Bermeo-Alvar is working on the research project "Four-wave mixing in microstructured fibers" with the support of Prof. Jens Limpert, where she is assisted by excellent laboratory equipment and a strong team. Her topic involves four-wave mixing (FWM), in which two photons, a signal photon and an Idler photon, are quantum correlated after annihilation of two incoming photons (pump photons). This kind of photon pair generation offers advantages over spontaneous parametric downconversion in crystals, a.o. in brightness and controllable interaction length of the generated pairs, which allows better coupling in telecommunication fibers. The student is investigating this type of photon pair generation through numerical simulations and optical setups.

Richard Kindler is also in the best of researchers' hands: supervised by Dr. Falk Eilenberger, he is working at Fraunhofer IOF on the RAINBOW projectExternal link, which is concerned with opening up new wavelength ranges for integrated optics - so-called photonic integrated circuits (PICs). Such PICs make it possible to miniaturize complex optical structures and increase their performance. One of the many possible applications is frequency combs, which can also be used in high-precision metrology or can be used to generate multiphoton quantum states. Mr. Kindler's research part will be to generate frequency combs based on the thin-film lithium niobate platform using microresonators. For this purpose, the corresponding chips will be designed, simulated and characterized.

The Honours Program consists of three components: individual supervision, financial support, and the supporting and accompanying program through the Honours Workshops and other events. Richard Kindler: "With the enrollment in the Honours Program, I see my research interests strengthened and my previous achievements in the Master's program recognized. ... I am very grateful for the collegial and regular exchange within the research group - with and without the Honours Program. "