Garrett Schneider

Assistant Professor

Secondary Appt.

About Garrett Schneider

Garrett Schneider earned a B.S. degree in Physics & Astronomy from Haverford College in 1993, and a Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Delaware (UD) in 2002, where he wrote his dissertation on nonlinear optical processes in photonic crystals. He joined the ECE department at UD as a postdoctoral researcher immediately after earning his PhD. His present research interests are primarily in the area of RF/microwave photonics, especially the application of injection locking, optical modulation, and other nonlinear optical processes to the generation, transmission, detection, and imaging of high-frequency and high-bandwidth RF signals. His recent research resulted in the development of a high-purity RF signal generation system based on injection-locked lasers that can be continuously tuned over ~1-100 GHz. The same system has been adapted to provide a widely tunable photonic receiver as well. Dr. Schneider’s current research involves implementing this photonic receiver in ultra-wideband photonically enabled RF imaging arrays, to provide enhanced receiver performance through spatial discrimination and coherent optical signal recovery. The photonic imaging receiver provides enhanced dynamic range by spatially separating signals prior to detection, thereby minimizing intermodulation distortion. Its potential applications include greatly increasing the data bandwidth of wireless networks, and improved detection and identification of electronic threats on military platforms.