Research | RMO

CURRENT RESEARCH FOCUS

Our current research program has seized the use of the radical and powerful new small scale computers along with advanced electromagnetic software capabilities to make accurate and fast computations at nanoscale size. These computational tools are extremely fast and allow one make full simulation before fabrication.

Application of advanced synchrotron techniques to nanoscale properties in semiconductor alloys – a collaboration with Prof Paiella at Boston University. Our research here is to use some of the advanced synchrotron tools available from the CFN and NSLS-II at Brookhaven National Lab to probe the physical state of nanoscale alloys. The world class brightness and tight focusing make use of this instrument an exciting possibility. Current initial experiments are being undertaken to examine strain fields.

MAIN RESEARCH AREAS

A major strength of our research group is its long history of major, ground-breaking research accomplishments. These include the development of the highest power gas laser in the mid-infrared and deep UV crystalline lasers. A set of major discoveries in laser surface chemical modification, which led to a decade’s long international research program and a series of commercial processing tools, was subsequently developed in a second program. In another program, our group has made major successes in Si linear and nonlinear optical devices and the development of commercial software to design photonic devices and optical circuits. Finally our group has been well known for its broad and deep interdisciplinary reach in understanding at the most fundamental level of the physics and chemistry of a series of new electronic and optical materials.

In more detail these research accomplishments are as follows:

1) Development of new lasers types, including commercialized lasers:

· High Power CO laser at 4.8 – 6.6μm

· Photodissociation driven resonance-line metal

· First deep-UV crystal lasers

· Electrically driven HF gas lasers, precision optically excited multiphoton laser

· Understanding underlying atomic and molecular excitation physics

2) Pioneer in laser driven surface chemical modification for electronics and electronic processing. This work led to an array of new microfabrication methods and commercial equipment for application to silicon integrated circuit fabrication. These include:

· Direct-write Si etching for Si-chip interconnection correction

· Micrometer-size deposition of metal for photolithography mask repair

· Laser driven wet etching of diffraction gratings for semiconductor lasers

· Excimer laser doping for electronics and solar cells.

· Large-scale etching of flex metal/polymer interconnects.

3) Integrated optical devices:

· Ultrasmall integrated-optical devices

· Laser direct writing for large-scale circuits and GaAs waveguide arrays

· Developed computer-aided design tools for integrated devices and PICs

· Pioneer in Si nonlinear photonics – including Raman amplifier, four wave mixing

4) Probing surfaces of electronic materials with light:

· Pioneer in understanding how UV light precisely initiates chemical reactions at a molecule

and solid surfaces.

· Characterization of nanoscale materials for plasmonic and 2D materials using novel

ultrasmall spot size laser photoemission instruments.