Photonics, Electronics, and Nanotechnology

This research are 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: 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.

ECE Core Faculty Associated with this Research Area: