Colorado School of Mines · Electrical Engineering

Microwave
& Photonics
Lab.

We are microwave engineers developing low-noise electromagnetic sensors for quantum computing, Earth observation, remote sensing, and Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT). We co-design microwave and photonic integrated circuits to push sensors beyond the limits of conventional analog electronics.

Principal Investigator
Gabriel Santamaria-Botello, PhD
Department
Electrical Engineering
Colorado School of Mines
Founded
August 2023
External Funding
$1.6M+ (PI share)

Research thrusts.

From kHz to optical · Classical and quantum sensing
2.1 / RF sensing

Frequency-agile RF sensors.

Chip-scale electro-optic microwave sensors from kHz to tens of GHz.

2.2 / Quantum networks

Microwave-to-optical quantum transducers.

Photonic integrated circuits for heterogeneous quantum computing networks.

2.3 / Positioning, Navigation and Timing

Fully photonic mm-wave receivers for time and frequency transfer.

Synchronizing remote optical atomic clocks for Positioning, Navigation and Timing.

2.4 / Parametric amplification

A new class of STO-based quantum-limited microwave amplifiers.

Strontium titanate as a nonlinear medium to engineer microwave parametric processes, avoiding the magnetic sensitivity issues and frequency limitations of Josephson-junction amplifiers used in most superconducting-qubit platforms today.

2.5 / EO combs

Packaged broadband electro-optic dual combs for sensing.

General-purpose RF-photonic dual comb generators for LIDAR and gas spectroscopy.

2.6 / Biomedical

Microwave radiometry for non-invasive thermometry.

Correlation radiometry for 3D spatial focusing and heterodyne architectures for interference cancellation, for non-invasive core body temperature measurement.

Funding
$1.65M External funding secured
(PI share)
DARPA Air Force Office of Scientific Research Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade
Partners & Collaborators
United States Space Force Bifrost Electronics Lumenastra EPFL University of Colorado Boulder Universidad Carlos III de Madrid European Space Agency Airbus

The PI.

Gabriel Santamaria-Botello, PhD
Gabriel Santamaria-Botello

Gabriel Santamaria-Botello is an Assistant Professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Colorado School of Mines, where his group designs microwave and photonic integrated circuits for RF receivers, transceivers, and sensors. Prior to joining Mines in 2023, he was a Research Associate at the University of Colorado Boulder in the Microwave and RF Research Group. In 2024 he was a Visiting Professor at EPFL's Laboratory of Photonics and Quantum Measurements. He earned his PhD cum laude in 2021 from Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, did a research stay at the University of Otago, and received his B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Carabobo. His research spans microwave photonics, quantum sensing, superconducting circuits, remote sensing, radio astronomy and computational electromagnetics.

News & highlights.

Recent milestones from the lab

Selected publications.

Recent work since joining Mines
Full list on Google Scholar

Talks.

Recent international & technical advisory engagements
2026
Antenna Miniaturization Techniques: technical session.
ACES 2026, Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society · Session organizer
ThessalonikiGreece
2025
Invited
Fully photonic-integrated low-noise microwave receiver frontends.
ANZCOP 2025, Australian and New Zealand Conference on Optics and Photonics
AucklandNew Zealand
2025
Fundamental limitations of electro-optic electrically small antennas.
PIERS 2025, Progress In Electromagnetics Research Symposium
ChibaJapan
2025
Traveling-wave parametric amplifiers on strontium titanate.
PIERS 2025
ChibaJapan

The team.

Gabriel Santamaria-Botello
Principal Investigator
Gabriel Santamaria-Botello
Assistant Professor, EE. PhD Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.
Connor Denney
PhD
Connor Denney
Photonic ICs & STO parametric amplifiers. Founder, Bifrost Electronics.
Steffen Kross
PhD
Steffen Kross
Fully photonic mm-wave receivers.
Lisa Elmiladi
PhD
Lisa Elmiladi
Packaged electro-optic dual combs.
Ethan Hansen
MSc · EE
Ethan Hansen
NIST PREP fellow. On-wafer RF and thermoreflectance measurements.
Cameron Connolly-Hergert
Undergraduate researcher (now NIST PREP fellow)
Cameron Connolly-Hergert
RF metrology.

Teaching.

Electrical & Quantum Engineering at Mines
EENG 430/530Fall 2023, 2024, 2026
Passive RF and Microwave Devices
EENG 386Spring 2024, 2026
Engineering Electromagnetics
EENG 532Fall 2025, 2026
Low Temperature Microwave Measurements
EENG 281Spring 2025
Introduction to Electrical Circuits, Electronics and Power

Join the lab.

We are looking for a postdoctoral researcher to work on microwave-to-optical quantum transduction for next-generation quantum computing systems. Backgrounds in microwave engineering, superconducting circuits, photonics, or quantum optics are encouraged to apply.