Professor Jürgen Czarske has been awarded another Reinhart Koselleck project from the German Research Foundation (DFG) on the topic of "Physics-Informed Deep Learning Systems for Secure Information Transmission with Multimode Fibers" (Phys-Deep-Fiber). Using physics-informed neural networks to reach the next level of fiber optic information transmission. This ambitious goal lies behind the research project for which Professor Czarske has acquired the Reinhart Koselleck project from the DFG. The project aims to achieve advances in the internet, information technology, optical computers, and also in biomedicine.

Professors distinguished by exceptional scientific achievement and who possess great scientific potential will be given the opportunity to carry out highly innovative projects with the greatest possible freedom. The €1.5 million award for Professor Czarske will be used to fundamentally investigate neuromorphic computing for paradigm shifts in information transmission.

Fiber optic communication technology forms the backbone of the internet. Advances are important not only for the continued exponential growth of data rates, but especially for data security and energy-saving paradigm shifts. The use of multimode fibers compared to single-mode fibers enables spatial multiplexing. However, obstacles to information transmission in multimode fibers remain due to scattering. This challenge is addressed in the Koselleck Project with novel XAI-based measurement systems, combining data-driven algorithms with physical models. Optical neural networks are trained using artificial intelligence but do not require power-hungry GPUs. Optical neural networks represent a paradigm shift in energy consumption, environmental protection, and sustainability. The real-time measurement of light scattering by physics-based neural networks provides channel information between participants, which is exploited by Physical Layer Security (PLS). This enables quantum-secure encryption in contrast to classical cryptography. Instead of post-quantum cryptography, physical laws are exploited not only with PLS but also with quantum key distribution (QKD) using non-classical light, which guarantees security through the no-cloning theorem of single photons. The project's vision is to use physics-informed deep learning to improve information transmission, fundamentally contributing to advances in the Internet.

Professor Czarske heads the BIOLAS Competence Center and the IEE Institute at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, is a co-opted professor of physics, and an adjunct professor in Arizona. He recently received the Dennis Gabor Award in San Diego from SPIE (International Society for Optics and Photonics, USA) for the paradigm shifts achieved in optical information processing. Reinhart Koselleck projects represent more freedom for particularly innovative and, in a positive sense, risky research. Professor Czarske was awarded the first Koselleck project in 2014. It has enabled fundamentally new research directions in process and energy technologies. The Koselleck project now received in 2025 aims to achieve paradigm shifts in information technology.