About — In-Ho Baek

Profile

I am a Scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI) in Berlin, within the Department of Photonic Networks and Systems, since July 2021. I completed my PhD (Dr.-Ing.) at Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), titled “Experimental Investigations of High-Capacity THz Wireless Links Using Probabilistic Constellation Shaping.”

My research spans THz wireless communications, 6G photonic networks, and neuromorphic computing for optical systems. I also lead German–Korean research collaborations, connecting institutions across both countries.

Alongside my research role, I serve as a University Lecturer at HTW Berlin and BHT Berlin, teaching communications engineering and signal processing at Bachelor’s and Master’s level.

Since March 2026, I have been co-founding LUXONNIC with colleagues at Fraunhofer HHI, where I serve as Co-Founder & CEO. We are building the LUXONNICore, a photonic integrated circuit that replaces power-hungry digital signal processors in AI data-center optical transceivers with an optical neural network, targeting up to 30× higher energy efficiency. We have submitted a funding proposal to the BMFTR xG-Incubator programme.

Education

2026

PhD (Dr.-Ing.) — Electrical Engineering / Information Technology

Technische Universität Berlin (TUB), Berlin — 2026
PhD Thesis: Experimental Investigations of High-Capacity THz Wireless Links Using Probabilistic Constellation Shaping

2021

M.Sc. — Electrical Engineering / Information Technology

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe — 2021
Focal points: Communication Engineering & Optical Communications
Master Thesis (at IPQ, KIT): Data-Aided Carrier Phase Recovery Algorithms for Coherent Optical Communication Systems

2019

Exchange Programme — Electrical Engineering & Philosophy

Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea — 2018–2019
Courses: Radar Systems Engineering • MIMO Wireless Communications • Philosophy of Science
Supported by the Baden-Württemberg Scholarship 2018

2018

B.Sc. — Electrical / Information Engineering

Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe — 2018
Bachelor Thesis (at IMS, KIT): Investigation of the Timing Jitter of Superconducting Single Photon Detectors with Varying Meander Shapes

Experience

Mar 2026 –
Present

Co-Founder & CEO — LUXONNIC

March 2026 – present

Photonic Neural Transceivers for AI Data Centers & 6G Infrastructure · Fraunhofer HHI

Co-founding and leading strategy and technical direction for an early-stage deep-tech venture developed at Fraunhofer HHI
Co-developing the LUXONNICore concept, a photonic integrated circuit performing optical signal equalization to replace DSP in next-generation (LPO/CPO) transceivers
Submitted a funding proposal to the BMFTR xG-Incubator (StartUpConnect) programme
Building the founding team with Mahdi Kaveh (CTO) and Dr. Colja Schubert (Scientific Advisor), Fraunhofer HHI

Jul 2021 –
Present

Scientist — Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Berlin

July 2021 – present

Department of Photonic Networks and Systems

Advanced DSP development for rate-adaptive THz wireless communications
DSP on chip for high-speed coherent 800G ASICs
Device and experimental setup characterisation
Leading German–Korean research collaborations and project acquisition
Research on neuromorphic computing for photonic systems

Oct 2025 –
Present

Lecturer — HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences

October 2025 – March 2026

B.Sc. programme: Information and Communication Technology

Fundamentals of telecommunications and communication systems
Digital signal processing and modulation schemes
Introduction to wireless and optical transmission systems

Oct 2022 –
Mar 2024

Lecturer — Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (BHT Berlin)

October 2022 – March 2024

M.Sc. programme: Information and Communication Technology

Advanced communications engineering and system design
Optical and wireless transmission technologies
Channel coding, adaptive modulation, and probabilistic shaping

Apr 2020 –
Jun 2021

Student Trainee, Project Engineer — EnBW, Karlsruhe

April 2020 – June 2021

Rheinhafen Steam Power Plant RDK

Calculation, reconstruction, and infrastructure adjustments of the power plant high-voltage site grid

Oct 2020 –
Apr 2021

Master Thesis — Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ), KIT

October 2020 – April 2021

Data-Aided Carrier Phase Recovery Algorithms for Coherent Optical Communication Systems

Apr 2019 –
Mar 2020

Working Student — Siemens, Karlsruhe

April 2019 – March 2020

Digital Industries — Factory Automation

2015 –
2016

Teaching Assistant — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

2015 – 2016

Teaching Assistant for the course Electric Circuits

Held tutorial classes
Corrected and graded exercise sheets

Publications

First Author

2026

Neural-Network Based Transceiver Nonlinearity Mitigation for Probabilistically Shaped Photonic THz Wireless Transmission

IEEE Photonics Technology Letters (PTL)

In-Ho Baek, J. Honecker, M. Bittiehn, R. Elschner, C. Schubert, R. Freund

2026

Record 221 Gb/s Dual Polarization THz Wireless Transmission Over 500 m Using PCS-64QAM at 300 GHz

Opto-Electronics and Communications Conference (OECC)

Paper Award -- OECC 2026

In-Ho Baek, O. Stiewe, R. Elschner, M. Rösch, A. Tessmann, M. Nölle, L. Molle, C. Schubert, R. Freund

2025

Experimental Characterization of Photodiode Transmitters for Probabilistically Shaped High-Speed THz Wireless Transmission

Journal of Lightwave Technology

In-Ho Baek, O. Stiewe, J. Gläsel, S. Nellen, G. Schwanke, T. T. Tran, R. Elschner, C. Schubert, R. B. Kohlhaas, P. Runge, M. Schell, R. Freund

2024

Experimental Characterization of a WR3-Coupled Photodiode Transmitter for High-Speed Terahertz Wireless Communication

Int. Topical Meeting on Microwave Photonics

IH Baek, O. Stiewe, J. Gläsel, M. F. Ulukan, A. Schindler, F. Ganzer, T. T. Tran

2023

32 GBd, 109 Gbit/s Probabilistically Shaped THz Wireless Transmission using PIN-PD Based Photonic Upconversion

IET Conference Proceedings CP839

IH Baek, O. Stiewe, S. Nellen, G. Schwanke, R. Elschner, C. Schubert — pp. 1302–1305

2022

Time Adaptive Probabilistic Shaping for Combined Optical/THz Links

23rd ITG-Symposium Photonic Networks

IH Baek, F. Bart, R. Elschner, F. Meier, D. Hellmann, A. Maassen, C. Schubert — pp. 1–8

Co-Author

In-Ho Baek

PhD (Dr.-Ing.) — Electrical Engineering / Information Technology

M.Sc. — Electrical Engineering / Information Technology

Exchange Programme — Electrical Engineering & Philosophy

B.Sc. — Electrical / Information Engineering

Co-Founder & CEO — LUXONNIC

Scientist — Fraunhofer Heinrich Hertz Institute (HHI), Berlin

Lecturer — HTW Berlin University of Applied Sciences

Lecturer — Berlin University of Applied Sciences and Technology (BHT Berlin)

Student Trainee, Project Engineer — EnBW, Karlsruhe

Master Thesis — Institute of Photonics and Quantum Electronics (IPQ), KIT

Working Student — Siemens, Karlsruhe

Teaching Assistant — Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)

Neural-Network Based Transceiver Nonlinearity Mitigation for Probabilistically Shaped Photonic THz Wireless Transmission

Record 221 Gb/s Dual Polarization THz Wireless Transmission Over 500 m Using PCS-64QAM at 300 GHz

Experimental Characterization of Photodiode Transmitters for Probabilistically Shaped High-Speed THz Wireless Transmission

Experimental Characterization of a WR3-Coupled Photodiode Transmitter for High-Speed Terahertz Wireless Communication

32 GBd, 109 Gbit/s Probabilistically Shaped THz Wireless Transmission using PIN-PD Based Photonic Upconversion

Time Adaptive Probabilistic Shaping for Combined Optical/THz Links

Analysis of Weather-Related Link Availabilities for Fiber-Integrated THz-Wireless Transmission Systems

High-Capacity THz Wireless Transmission Supporting Future 6G Optical Networks

Experimental Investigation of Information Bit Scrambling for Physical-Layer Security in Coherent Fiber-Optic Systems