Luis Enrique García Muñoz
Professor Luis Enrique García Muñoz
Luis Enrique García Muñoz is Professor in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications at the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
My main interests are quantum electrodynamics and radio astronomical instrumentation.
In quantum electrodynamics I research on the development of quantum radars and quantum technologies that generate a new source of entanglement operating at room temperature in the microwave range. The whole technology is implemented on an easy-to-integrate integrated photonic circuit platform and makes use of LnNbO3-based non-linear optics. We are studying the feasibility of quantum radar and quantum communications with these PICs at room temperature.
The development of radio astronomical instrumentation has been the main line of research for the last 15 years, with special emphasis on work on a receiver with maximum sensitivity (photon count) in the microwave frequency range operating at room temperature. A new world record for sensitivity measured at room temperature was achieved, detecting a signal of 2-10-19 W at 80 GHz. This work required the coordination of an international team composed of researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (Germany), the National Astronomical Observatory (Spain), the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nürnberg (Germany) and the University of Otago (New Zealand). The scientific and socio-economic impact of this line of research is very high. At the scientific level, it is one of the major challenges of international research. At the socio-economic level, a receiver with such sensitivity, working at room temperature, can provide solutions to THz technology in applications such as security, energy, defence, broadband communications and also in the aerospace sector. AIRBUS, INDRA, REPSOL and SENER, among others, have shown interest.
In low-frequency radio astronomy, I have participated in more than 25 privately funded projects. I was the Spanish principal investigator of the International SKA (Square Kilometre Array) Consortium, and, currently, I am the principal investigator of the Spanish contribution to the international high-sensitivity astronomical observation project for VLBI2010 Global Observing System. Regarding high-frequency radio astronomy, I am working on numerous projects that implement oscillators in order to increase the sensitivity of photomixer-based observation, among which the following projects stand out: SOFIA (managed by NASA), ALMA (Atacama Large Millimeter Array, with more than 30 telescopes in Chile, and more than 30 participating institutions) and APEX (managed by the European Southern Observatory.) I have assumed the coordination tasks of the European FP7 IPHOS project, whose results have recently been published by the European Union. I have published 56 articles in international journals, 39 of which belong to the first quartile, and the rest are in the second quartile. 84 papers have been published in national and international conferences, 12 of them as invited speaker. I am co-author of 2 books and editor of a book published by Wiley. I have participated in 6 national competitive projects of the Spanish Government R&D programme (CICYT projects) and in 28 privately funded projects. I have been principal investigator in 7 national and 5 international projects. The Spanish Ministry of Education and Science has awarded me two sexenios for quality research, and I have held several teaching and administrative positions in the Department of Signal Theory and Communications. I am currently Deputy Director of Research at the School of Engineering of the UC3M. I have supervised 3 doctoral theses and I am currently supervising two more. I have supervised 14 master's theses and written 48 technical reports for several privately funded research projects as lead author.