Photonics, Electronics, and Nanotechnology

This research area focuses on investigating and leveraging nanophotonic, electronic, and two-dimensional materials to develop cutting-edge nanophotonic and electronic devices and technologies. This research area is at the forefront of innovation, combining fundamental studies in electron transport, phonon transport and enhancement of light-matter interaction with practical applications to address critical challenges in electronics, photonics, biomedicine, and energy. Research in photonics, electronics, and nanotechnology is poised to revolutionize next-generation computing systems, medical diagnostic tools, imaging systems, and energy transport. Key areas of interest include:

Electronic Devices: Advanced silicon and compound semiconductor devices for logic and high-power applications; heterogeneous integration of 2D materials with wide-band-gap semiconductors to create next-generation electronic devices;

Optical Communication: Photonic crystal cavities, on-chip waveguides and resonators for efficient on-chip light switching and manipulation, generating and routing quantum light sources, paving the way for faster and more reliable optical communication systems;

Imaging and Computing: Developing optical metasurfaces for miniaturized optical components, all-optical signal processing, and edge detection to significantly reduce power consumption and latency in computational tasks;

Biomedical: Investigating and developing plasmonic nanostructures, dielectric resonators, photonic crystal cavities, and metasurfaces for the trapping, sensing, and analysis of small molecules, as well as creating point-of-care biosensors for advanced diagnostic capabilities;

Energy Harvesting: Exploring surface photon polaritons, spectrally and spatially coherent thermal emitters, hyperbolic infrared optical materials, and hot carrier generation for next generation energy harvesting applications.

This research is supported by state-of-the-art facilities and equipment hosted  by the Vanderbilt Institute for Nanoscale and Engineering (VINSE).

ECE Faculty Associated with this Research Area:

ECE Affiliated Faculty Associated with this Research Area: