Gallium Nitride

Gallium nitride (GaN) and its alloys are industrially manufacturable materials with a wide direct bandgap. Its devices are unique due to their capability for blue emission as well as high temperature operation and are therefore suitable for a variety of quantum experiments. Specifically, GaN cavities with InGaN quantum dots serve as great candidates for the fast growing photonic industry, optical computing and communication networks, display technology, as well as quantum information sciences and metrology.

Light-matter interactions

Light-matter interaction is at the heart of nanophotonic research. We design and fabricate high quality factor, small modal volume GaN optical cavities with active InGaN quantum dots embedded as emitters. With our measurement and tuning techiques, in conjunction with our fabrication expertise, we are probing the dynamical optical interaction of optical cavities with embedded emitters. The fruit of this research will allow for  novel devices such as low threshold lasers and single photon sources which can be applied to quantum information sciences and reveal the fundamental nature of the interaction of light with matter.

Light emittng sources

Nanoscale light emitting sources are the fundamental elements to the next generation optical technologies. Among them, the most important are to date, nanoscale lasers and single photon sources. Our blue emitting microdisk laser operate at room temperatures and are suitable for on chip operation. Our single photon nanopillars are suitable candidates for advanced metrology and quantum information technology.

 

Collaborators
We collaborate with Dr. Rachel Oliver's group at Cambridge University.

Recent Publications

Aharonovich, Igor, Alexander Woolf, Kasey J Russell, Tongtong Zhu, Nan Niu, Menno J Kappers, Rachel A Oliver, and Evelyn L Hu. 2013. Low threshold, room-temperature microdisk lasers in the blue spectral range. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 103, no. 2

Niu, Nan, Tsung-Li Liu, Igor Aharonovich, Kasey J Russell, Alexander Woolf, Thomas C Sadler, Haitham AR El-Ella, Menno J Kappers, Rachel A Oliver, and Evelyn L Hu. 2012. A full free spectral range tuning of p-i-n doped gallium nitride microdisk cavity. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 101.

Aharonovich, Igor, Nan Niu, Fabian Rol, Kasey J Russell, Alexander Woolf, Haitham AR El-Ella, Menno J Kappers, Rachel A Oliver, and Evelyn L Hu. 2011. Controlled tuning of whispering gallery modes of GaN/InGaN microdisk cavities. APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS 99.