Professors Christian Koos and Christian Greiner at the at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology’s (KIT) Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ) have received European Research Council consolidator grants of €2 million ($2.5 million) each.

Koos and his team combine photonic and electronic methods to generate and detect electromagnetic signals with bandwidths in the terahertz range for the Terahertz Waveform Synthesis and Analysis Using Hybrid Photonic-Electronic Circuits (TeraSHAPE) project.

In the electromagnetic spectrum, terahertz radiation is located between microwaves and infrared radiation. The TeraSHAPE project focuses on frequencies between 100 GHz and 1 THz. Researchers use optical frequency combs together with highly parallelized signal processing in digital electronic circuits for the precise synthesis and analysis of waveforms in the optical range. For conversion of these optical signals into THz waveforms, the researchers developed new concepts of electro-optical modulators and plasmonic photodetectors with bandwidths of hundreds of GHz.

Friction and wear are responsible for one third of the energy consumed in traffic, substantially influencing the service lives of many products. To reduce the consumption of energy and raw materials, it is important to develop friction-optimized metal alloys. Greiner and his team study how the microstructure of materials changes under so-called tribological loading. Tribological loading occurs when components are in contact with and move relatively to each other.

The Institute for Applied Materials - Computational Materials Science of KIT and the MicroTribology Center, a joint initiative of KIT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials, provide an ideal environment for this research. Within the framework of the TriboKey project, Greiner’s team studies deformation processes of various alloys under friction loading and the resulting structural changes inside the metals. Using a unique approach, they couple friction experiments with nondestructive testing methods and data science algorithms, as well as high-resolution electron microscopy. The project is aimed at defining guidelines for the development of materials with tailored friction and wear behavior.

With the Consolidator Grant, the European Research Council funds projects of scientists with seven to 12 years of experience since completion of their doctorates, whose independent research teams are in the consolidation phase.