Janusz Murakowski

Associate Professor

Secondary Appt.

About Janusz Murakowski

From DC to daylight is one of the dimensions in the space of Dr. Murakowski’s research interests. The ability to generate, manipulate and detect electromagnetic waves with frequencies spanning more than fifteen orders of magnitude from sub-Hz electronic signals to hundreds of THz of the optical region, with intensities between femto-Watts and tera-Watts is at the heart of our civilization. Developing technologies to facilitate these operations constitute Dr. Murakowski’s research activities. This realm includes frequency conversion between radio frequency (RF) and optical domains where electro-optic modulators serve to up-convert from RF to optical, whereas photodetectors down-convert from optical to RF domain. Combining up-conversion with down-conversion allows processing RF signals optically, which enables capabilities difficult to realize or impossible otherwise. Practical realization of these capabilities depends on efficient and highly linear modulators, which are therefore one focus of Dr. Murakowski’s work. Approaches to using electromagnetic waves for remote sensing and broadband wireless communication, and processing electromagnetic radiation up-converted to optical domain is another. The research also includes optical generation and re-generation of RF signals with broad accessible bandwidth, high fidelity and low noise. Integration of systems and subsystems to minimize size, weight, power consumption and cost is the guiding principle of the efforts. Tools used to carry out the research include analytical and numerical methods on the theoretical side, micro- and nano-fabrication such as e-beam lithography, plasma etching and thin-film deposition to realize the structures, and fiber/free-space optics and high-speed RF to test them.