Our research is aimed at the development of novel optoelectronic devices based on artificially-structured material systems, whose properties can be tailored by design to meet specific applications in a way that is not afforded by simply using bulk materials.  One important example is that of semiconductor quantum structures, in which nanoscale layers (or wires or dots) of different semiconductor materials are assembled to create an energy landscape in which electrons behave in a markedly quantum-mechanical fashion.  By controlling the dimensions and geometry of these structures, one can tune their most basic electronic and optical properties to enable entirely new device concepts – an approach that has become known as bandgap engineering.  Heterostructures involving materials with different optical properties (e.g. metals and dielectrics) can also be designed in a similar manner, and used to control the flow of light and its interaction with the underlying matter in novel and often useful ways.

Using this general approach, we are investigating several device concepts to address a wide range of applications, literally spanning three orders of magnitude in optical wavelength.  These include: light sources tunable by design over a broad portion of the mid- and far-infrared spectrum, including wavelengths currently not accessible with any other semiconductor technology; nonlinear all-optical switching devices for future ultrafast fiber-optic communications; high-efficiency surface-plasmon-enhanced visible LEDs for solid state lighting; and ultraviolet optical modulators based on the quantum confined Stark effect.  Our research in these areas involves both theoretical and experimental activities, including design and simulations (often based on the proverbial particle-in-a-box problem of quantum mechanics), device fabrication, and electrical and optical characterization.