Research

Research areas:

My group’s research interests are in the broad areas of (a) applied electromagnetics and (b) electronic & optoelectronic devices and materials. Our research projects involve: (i) simulation and design of electronic and photonic devices, in particular employing emerging materials, (ii) growth, fabrication and characterization of electronic & optical materials and devices, (iii) system integration of these devices.

In this regard, our research has been particularly focused in the THz region of the EM spectrum. The THz band is the broad region of the electromagnetic spectrum separating radio and optical waves. From an application point of view, THz has been historically one of the least explored regions of the spectrum. This can be understood on the basis that these waves have been notoriously difficult to produce, control and detect. Although significant scientific progress has been recently achieved, enhancing our understanding on the interplay between THz waves and matter and how these interactions can be tailored to generate and harness THz waves still remains a major challenge. My group’s work is framed into these efforts by trying to develop and demonstrate THz optoelectronic device concepts based on metamaterials, non-traditional electron transport phenomena such as plasmonics and tunneling, and new materials such as graphene, complex oxides, and topological insulators. Our research expertise goes from theory to experiment, including computational modeling of materials and devices, materials growth, device fabrication, and device characterization. We have equipment for CVD materials growth, THz CW and time-domain spectroscopy, DC and RF characterization (mmwave probe station + VNA with 67-110GHz frequency extenders), and we collaborate with groups growing materials and heterostructures through different techniques, pulsed laser deposition, MBE, and MOCVD.

Sketch of the band structure of graphene

Research projects:

Current:

NSF # 1936729 Reconfigurable free-form metamaterials: a new design paradigm for integrated optoelectronics based on 2D materials (2019 – 2022), (PI).

DARPA Large-area flat lenses for drastic reduction in weight for DARPA EXTREME, phase 1 (2020), (UofU PI).

NSF # 1810096 Hybrid Organic-Inorganic Lead-Halide Perovskite-Based Active Terahertz Devices (2018 – 2021), (PI).

AFOSR # FA9550-18-1-0332: AlGaN & AlGaN-based quantum wells: towards high-frequency high-power electronics (2018-2021), (PI).

AFOSR MURI: Fundamentals of Doping and Defects in Ga2O3 for High Breakdown Field Electronics (2018-2021), (co-PI).

NSF MRI #1828480 Acquisition of a 3-D Nanolithography System (2018-2021), (co-PI).

Past:

NSF #1407959 ECCS: Closing the THz gap with a new family of devices based on two-dimensional materials (2014-2018), (PI).

NSF #1351389 CAREER: THz active metamaterials employing thin-film semiconductors (2014-2019), (PI).

ONR #N00014-11-1-0721 MURI: DATE device and architectures for terahertz electronics (2013-2017), (UofU PI; PI P. Fay, UND).

NSF #1121252 MRSEC: Plasmonics and Organic Spintronics (2013-2018).

NSF #1644592 EAGER: Ultra-High-Performance Terahertz Detection Exploiting Super-Steep-Subthreshold-Slope (S4)-FinFETs (2016-2018), (co-PI; PI P.E. Gaillardon, UofU).