Research
Our research vision is to advance the scientific foundation that underlies the current and potential future of materials and quantum sciences. Our research directions focus to advance fundamental understanding and the experimental knowledge for the development of new scalable nanostructured materials and novel 2D materials for emerging nanoscale applications, and quantum sources for telecom quantum network technologies deeply impacting our lives as we are moving towards the fourth industrial revolution.
On-Demand CMOS-Compatible Fabrication of Self-Aligned Nanostructures
The field of semiconductor nanowires (NWs) has become one of the most active research areas. However, progress in this field has been hindered, due to the difficulty in controlling defect density, and deterministic assembly of NW arrays, parameters important for mass production of electronic nanodevices and the creation of practical nanoscale-based systems. Our group is focused on developing CMOS-compatible fabrication strategies for nanostructured materials, for example silicon carbide (SiC) and silicon oxycarbide NW arrays. These strategies enable the development of scalable ultrathin nanostructures, with reduced defect density, which can serve as an experimental platform to investigate NW-based emerging technologies, such as nanowire sensing, nanophotonics, and quantum photonics.
Related research work:
On-demand CMOS-Compatible Fabrication of Ultrathin Self-Aligned SiC Nanowire Arrays
Scalable Nanophotonic Structures for Long-Distance Quantum Communications
Non-classical (single-photon) light sources emitting in the near-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, where signal transmission losses in optical fibers are small, are essential for the development of long-distance optical quantum networks. Our research work has been aimed to advance fundamental understanding and the experimental knowledge to develop critical optical properties of rare earth ion dopants, coupled and enabled by new nanophotonic structures, which provide high integration capabilities with silicon nanophotonics. We have introduced a new class of CMOS-compatible silicon carbide nanowire-based photonic crystal structures. These nanophotonic structures enable strong coupling and on-demand placement of rare-earth erbium (Er3+) ions in the nanowires. The technologically important low-loss Er3+-induced 1540 nm emission can thus be controlled and substantially enhanced by these photonic nanostructures. Benefits from the fundamental understanding of erbium emission in such scalable nanophotonic structures can expedite advances towards room temperature telecom single-photon sources.
Related research work:
On-demand CMOS-Compatible Fabrication of Ultrathin Self-Aligned SiC Nanowire Arrays
Strong photoluminescence enhancement of silicon oxycarbide through defect engineering
Pseudo-1D Materials and Polarization-Dependent Nanophotonic Devices
Emerging 2D gallium chalcogenides, such as gallium telluride (GaTe), are promising layered semiconductors that can serve as vital building blocks towards the implementation of nanodevices in the fields of nanoelectronics, optoelectronics, and quantum photonics. By leveraging our novel chemical passivation methods for environmental-stable GaTe flakes, our focus has been to study the anisotropy in the optical properties of GaTe nanomaterials and nanodevices. The anisotropy is caused by the 1D-like nature of the GaTe layer, as the layer comprises of Ga-Ga chains extending along the b-axis crystal direction. The identification of the b-axis in such anisotropic materials is imperative for the fabrication of polarization-dependent devices based on the generation and detection of polarized light, such as polarized photodetectors and light sources.
Related research work: