Award Abstract #0103134
NIRT: Photonic Crystal Laser Technology Based on Nanostructured Active Material

NSF Org:	DMR Division of Materials Research
Initial Amendment Date:	June 26, 2001
Latest Amendment Date:	March 30, 2004
Award Number:	0103134
Award Instrument:	Continuing grant
Program Manager:	LaVerne D. Hess DMR Division of Materials Research MPS Directorate for Mathematical & Physical Sciences
Start Date:	July 1, 2001
Expires:	June 30, 2005 (Estimated)
Awarded Amount to Date:	$1400000
Investigator(s):	Dennis Deppe ddeppe@creol.ucf.edu (Principal Investigator) Kerry Vahala (Co-Principal Investigator) Ray Chen (Co-Principal Investigator) C. Grant Willson (Co-Principal Investigator) Axel Scherer (Co-Principal Investigator)
Sponsor:	University of Texas at Austin P.O Box 7726 Austin, TX 78713 512/471-6424
NSF Program(s):	ELECTRONIC/PHOTONIC MATERIALS, ELECT, PHOTONICS, & DEVICE TEC, ENGINEERING RESEARCH CENTERS
Field Application(s):	0106000 Materials Research
Program Reference Code(s):	AMPP, 9162, 1674
Program Element Code(s):	1775, 1517, 1480

ABSTRACT

This proposal was submitted in response to the solicitation "Nanoscale Science and Engineering" (NSF 00-119). The goal of this project is to develop laser and optoelectronic device technologies that achieve photon and electron confinement to generate 0-dimensional states, based on advances in nanolithography and dry etching to fabricate nanocrystals containing self-organized quantum dots. A decrease of a semiconductor laser's volume to its minimum size, while maintaining high Q, along with a decrease in the electronic confinement potential, may result in revolutionary advances in device operation. These include high-speed operation below and at threshold, and high efficiency in the spontaneous regime below threshold. In the ultimate limits of small active volume and sufficiently high Q the system can enter the quantum reversible regime necessary to create quantum-entangled states. Both these quantum limits of the photons and electron-hole pairs are possible using III-V nanostructured active material and nanostructured photonic crystals. The materials to be employed in these studies will be GaAs/AlGaAs/InGaAs strained layer heterostructures grown by molecular beam epitaxy, which will be fabricated into photonic crystal lasers and microcavities. The III-V heterostructures will be grown at the University of Texas/Austin Microelectronics Research Center, and photonic crystal fabrication will take place at the California Institute of Technology(CIT) and at UT-Austin. The III-V nanostructures will be optimized for high-speed operation based on studies to be carried out at CIT. Manufacturable processes for the nanolithography will be developed at UT-Austin. Graduate research assistants working towards Ph.D. degrees represent a major component of this research. The expected impact of the research is the development of a new technology for low power, high speed optoelectronic interconnects suitable for wavelength division multiplexing and low power transceivers for optical interconnects, and new devices useful for exchange of quantum information.

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The project addresses basic materials science and engineering research issues in a topical area of materials science with high technological relevance. An important feature of the program is the integration of research and education through the training of students in a fundamentally and technologically significant area. The project will develop strong technical, communication, and organizational/management skills in students through unique educational experiences made possible by a collaborative forefront research environment. The project is co-supported by the DMR/EM, ECS/PFET, and EEC Divisions.

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