The University of Arkansas, Fayetteville was awarded a $299,612 project grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) Integrative Activities (CFDA 47.083) program. The goal of this 2-year project is to develop a new sapphire platform for integrated microwave photonics (IMWP) technology, which can improve wireless signal processing and data transmission by transferring these challenges from the electronic to the photonic domain.
The key objectives are to: (1) obtain high-performance III-V lasers on a sapphire substrate, (2) develop low-loss waveguides using silicon nitride on sapphire, and (3) create passive devices like resonators and couplers. The proposed sapphire-based IMWP technology aims to enable reduced size, weight, and power (SWAP) at low cost compared to current solutions, with potential applications in radar, 5G, satellite communications, and medical imaging systems. This NSF EPSCoR RII Track-4 grant provides a fellowship to an associate professor and graduate student at the University of Arkansas to visit the University of Texas at Arlington and establish a research collaboration to advance the sapphire-based IMWP technology.