Nanophotonics

Summary:

Nanofabrication technology can be used to pattern and etch sub-micrometer-scale features in semiconductor and dielectric materials such as gallium arsenide, silicon and silicon nitride. In an appropriate geometry, such as a resonant cavity, these etched features can confine light to wavelength-scale dimensions, generating intense intracavity optical fields for modest input powers. Our research is focused on the design, fabrication and characterization of such structures, and their application in areas such as cavity quantum electrodynamics with semiconductor quantum dots, novel light-emitting devices utilizing introduced and embedded gain media, and sensitive micro/nanophotonic-based detectors and transducers.

Focus Areas:

• Novel cryogenic optical probes for characterizing nanophotonic devices
• Strong light-matter interactions in chip-based optical cavities