Want to help rethink the foundation of the internet? Become a PhD student at DTU Electro - for

Want to help rethink the foundation of the internet? Become a PhD student at DTU Electro Want to help rethink the foundation of the internet? Become a PhD student at DTU Electro – it only takes 20 minutes! The internet is growing at an explosive pace - and so is its energy consumption. Yet light is still the most energy-efficient way to transmit information. Today, data is sent around the globe as billions of light pulses every second, generated by millions of individual lasers. We have shown that many of these lasers can be replaced by a single optical light source that emits a full rainbow spectrum of colours - and that each colour can act as its own “mini-laser”. In other words: one light source can do the job of many, making communication systems far more energy-efficient. This is exactly the technology we are developing. And as a PhD student, you will play a key role in turning this concept into reality. What will you be working on? You will join an international research environment developing new ways of transmitting data - more energy-efficiently, more scalably, and with fewer active components. Your main responsibilities include: Working on a project that combines photonics, modelling, chip design and hands-on experiments - in a field that is advancing rapidly. Contributing both independently and as part of a close-knit team where we support each other, share ideas, and lift the projects together. Being an active part of the group’s scientific and social community, where humour, curiosity, and good collaboration are part of everyday life. Collaborating with researchers, industry partners, and fellow PhD students in a team of around eight people. Participating in international research environments, including a planned 3–6 month research stay abroad. How your time is typically divided: 2/3 research – your project, your models, your experiments. 1/6 teaching – e.g., exercises, supervision, or course assistance. 1/6 other activities – conferences, courses, group collaboration, social networks, and building strong collegial relations The technical corner If you already know exactly what “optical modulators operating at low SNR in spatially data-distributed links” means, you’re going to enjoy this. If you don’t - even better, because that is exactly what you will learn here. You must have a two-year master's degree (120 ECTS points) or a similar degree with an academic level, equivalent to a two-year master's degree, before starting the project. It may be within physics, mathematics, electrical engineering, optical communications, fibre optics, coding, or integrated photonics/nanofabrication - but whatever your background, you don’t need to know the field in depth yet. You will learn everything you need during the project. Approval and Enrolment The scholarship for the PhD degree is subject to academic approval, and the candidate will be enrolled in one of the general degree programmes at DTU. For information about our enrolment requirements and the general planning of the PhD study programme, please see the Rules for the PhD proramme at DTU . The core of your PhD project is to exploit optical frequency combs - light sources that emit a full spectrum of colours at once - and design the components that can modulate each colour’s data signal as energy-efficiently as possible. Here are some of the concrete technical tasks you will work on: Design and modelling Learning to use chip-design software to develop optical data modulators that are: – energy-efficient – as simple as possible – stand-alone or co-integrated with other components – capable of operating at low signal-to-noise ratios (low SNR) – flexible in terms of modulation formats and coding Experiments and characterisation Testing and characterising your modulators in real communication setups, such as: – space-division multiplexed (SDM) fibre transmission systems – data-centre scenarios – unrepeatered data-distributed links Modulation formats Discovering which modulation formats actually work best when transmitting data over… yes… a rainbow of optical colours. Experimenting with how to achieve maximum data capacity with minimum energy. And #J-18808-Ljbffr