Scientists at the NSU Center for Nonlinear Photonics and Quantum Technologies won prestigious grants from the Russian Science Foundation (RSF). The RSF provides financial and organizational support for fundamental scientific research and exploratory scientific research through the funding of competitive scientific, and scientific-technical programs and projects.
Anton Skidin, PhD received a grant from the RSF competition “Research Initiatives by Young Scientists” for his project, "Integrated Optimization of Information Transmission on High-Speed Fiber-Optic Communication Systems". The total amount of funding awarded is 4.5 million rubles of which 1.5 million rubles will be provided in 2017.
In the competition for teams led by young scientists, a group led by Anastasia Bednyakova, PhD research associate at the NSU Center for Nonlinear Photonics and Quantum Technologies, won a grant from the RSF with the project "Mathematical Modeling for the Generation of Dissipative Soliton Complexes in Fiber Lasers for Telecommunication Applications”.
The project was chosen in a highly competitive selection process with more than 2,100 applications submitted to this Presidential program for research projects and only 239 projects receiving awards. The project is devoted to the development and application of effective methods for modeling nonlinear signal dynamics in fiber lasers to create a new type of fiber laser that will generate dissipative soliton complexes in the telecommunication spectral range (1.5 μm). Here we can draw an analogy to the development of the technology of spectral multiplexing of channels in fiber-optic communication lines, which allowed the transmission of several information channels through one optical fiber at different frequencies and led to a breakthrough increase in the data transfer rate. In the same way, the realization of spectral multiplexing of dissipative solitons can lead to a qualitative leap in the technology for creating femtosecond fiber lasers. The application of this approach in the construction of high-speed optical super-channels will serve as a basis for the creation of a new generation of telecommunication systems with high throughput. The total amount of funding is 15 million rubles with 5 million rubles to be provided in 2017.
The Scientific Director of the NSU Center for Nonlinear Photonics and Quantum Technologies and the Head of the Nonlinear Photonics Laboratory Professor Sergei Turitsyn, together with the project team Mikhail Fedoruk, Alexei Reduk and Anastasia Bednyakova, won an RSF grant for their project "Nonlinear Technologies for Optical Communications and Laser Applications".
This was awarded in the RSF competition designed to support "research by world-class scientific laboratories in the framework of realizing the priorities for scientific and technological development in the Russian Federation ". Nonlinear physical effects play a critical role in modern high-speed fiber-optic communication lines and fiber laser systems. It is noteworthy that the mathematical models of fiber-optic communication lines and fiber lasers have much in common, and the methods and ideas used in telecommunications can be used in laser systems and vice versa. The project will develop and test scientific and engineering concepts for a new generation of nonlinear photonic systems, including the nonlinear Fourier transform method and the use of machine learning methods in optical communication lines with high throughput and laser systems. The total amount of funding for the project is 128 million rubles which includes RSF and extra-budgetary financing. 32 million rubles will be provided in 2017.
Students from the NSU Mechanics and Mathematics and Physics Departments have been invited to work at the Center and help implement the RSF grants.