Emerging Leaders Program

Ellen Williams Distinguished Postdoctoral Fellowship
Research Topic: Time-Domain Nanoscience

Nanocomposite Materials for use in Terahertz and Optical Devices

Advisor(s):

Prof. Thomas E. Murphy

Research Description

This project seeks to investigate using nanostructured materials to build new optical and terahertz devices including filters, resonators, sensors and modulators. Nanostructured materials such as porous silicon allow one to control and tailor the macroscopic dielectric properties of a material by engineering the structure at the nanoscale. Nanoporous materials allow one to incorporate gases or liquids directly into the active area of a photonic or guided-wave device, which has applications in gas and chemical sensing, nonlinear optics, and even metrology. The high surface area to volume ratio of nanoporous silicon makes it especially attractive for sensing and biospectroscopy measurements, which often rely on selective binding to a functionalized surface. Recent research has shown that the optical and electric properties properties of nanoporous semiconductors can be very different from the bulk semiconductors from which they are formed, especially when observed on an ultrafast timescale. The selected Postdoctoral Fellow will assume responsibility for building and investigating new nanoporous guide-wave devices for use in the terahertz and optical regimes, and exploring novel applications such as sensors and modulators.