NEW: Quantum Summer School, May 19-24 2024!!!!
Overview
Light-matter interactions are central to a diverse range of physical phenomena that underpin light emission, detection and modulation. Moreover, the application of these photonic process in novel materials is expanding the types of interactions and potential device functionality. Photonic devices are used throughout modern technology from imaging to automation, from astronomy to medicine, and everything in between. Consequently, the science of light-matter interactions continues to revolutionize society, and its study can lead to careers that pursue fundamental questions and/or develop the next optical/photonics tool. The increased optical integration in technology is growing the photonics industry, which currently has an underdeveloped workforce. Fantastic opportunities exist for those with optical training; hence, it is a great time to explore light-matter interactions.
The Ultrafast Nanophotonics Group uses short-pulsed laser light to excite, probe and control bulk and nanostructured solids. Our missions are to explore light-matter interactions of nanophotonic materials and devices, and to develop tools for the study of condensed matter physics. In particular, the light-pulses are sufficiently short to probe the dynamics of electronic phenomena on their own time scale. By combining ultrafast and ultrasmall, we are able to probe quantum-mechanical processes. Through collaboration, we address problems in physics, chemistry, engineering and materials science. The group works on projects that fall in the categories of ultrafast dynamics, coherent phenomena, and nonlinear optics. In these broad categories, highlights of the group's success include:
- discovery of plasmon-induced resonance energy transfer mechanisms in hybrid metallodielectric nanoparticles,
- identification of a metastable state in the dynamics of hot carriers in prototype solar cells,
- examination of the cavity detuning dependence of exciton-polaritons in a semiconductor microcavity, and
- the first demonstration of broadband emission of terahertz radiation from chalcopyrite crystals.
Facilities
The Ultrafast Nanophotonics Group is located on the Downtown Campus at WVU in White Hall, which was renovated in 2011 to provide purpose-specific laboratory space for the Department of Physics and Astronomy. The laboratory is equipped with Ti:sapphire mode-locked laser oscillators, a chirped-pulsed laser amplifier and optical-parametric amplifiers. These light sources give the group access to short pulses across the visible, near-infrared and terahertz regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, and allow for development of modular optical experiments. The laboratory also has low-temperature, moderately magnetic-field, and chemical-reactor capabilities. The group has access to cleanroom facilities for device fabrication and characterization tools through the WVU Shared Research Facilities. We are currently collaborating with several research groups at WVU and beyond. In particular, Alan Bristow is an Associate at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) working closely with the Nanoscale Spectroscopy Group.
IMAGES: (Top) Polarized microscope image of semiconductor surface during photolithography using a polymer resist. (Middle) Scheme of the optical rectification process for generating terahertz pulses from optical pulses. (Bottom) View of an optical table with several pump-probe setups.
Funding
The group has been or is partly funded by the National Science Foundation, National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Aerospace and Space Administration and West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission.
Join the Group
If you wish to join the group, contact Alan to find out if there are available positions. Also, read about current and former members to see what they have worked on or where they ended up.