Amorphous Materials
We develop chalcogenide materials and processing techniques for optical and photonic applications.
In this area, we develop ways to process mid-IR compatible optical materials, in particular, highly photoresponsive and nonlinear chalcogenide glasses for integrated optical devices.
Research highlights
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Matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation
MAPLE is a powerful technique for the deposition of organic materials such as polymers and biomaterials. With its gentle deposition mechanism and precise control of laser pulse energy, MAPLE allows the development of structured polymers with extremely high and/or low potential energy, ultra-stable light nanocomposites, and materials for renewable energy conversion.
Solution processed chalcogenides
Chalcogenide glasses are well known for their various photo-induced phenomena and have drawn great interests for their unique optical properties. We characterize the optical and structural properties of amorphous chalcogenide materials synthesized using a low-temperature, non-vacuum method of depositing As-S and Ge-Sb-S from organic solutions.
Integrated waveguides
We implement solution processes to make mid-IR waveguides from chalcogenide glass. In contrast to etching-based methods, our solution-casting technique enables fabrication of microns-thick structures that match quantum cascade laser dimensions for on-chip integration. This technology leads the way to realizing compact and low-cost mid-IR laser-integrated devices for advanced chemical sensing.
