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[Under construction]2016 AFOSR MURIUltralow Power, Ultrafast, Integrated Nano-OptoelectronicsPO: Dr. Gernot Pomrenke, Optoelectronics and PhotonicsPI: Professor Andrea Alu, The University of Texas at Austin, Electrical and Computer EngineeringWebsite
We propose a complete and ambitious basic-research program aimed at introducing and developing novel ideas and revolutionary concepts to model, design, analyze, fabricate and characterize ultralow-power, ultrafast, high-density, compact, scalable optoelectronic nanodevices, and dense arrays of them, for the next generation of integrated nanophotonic systems. Our team has a unique, ideal combination of world-leading experts in theoretical, numerical and experimental aspects of nanophotonic and optoelectronic technology to put forward an entire new paradigm for nano-optoelectronics technology, pushing the limits of nanodevices in terms of energy/bit, data rates, integration, scalability and density, all in an environment fully compatible with Si technology at room temperature. During our effort, we will thoroughly investigate and successfully overcome the fundamental issues and scientific challenges currently limiting electronic systems. We will introduce novel hybrid substrates for nanophotonics, including plasmonics, 2D materials, metamaterials and quantum phenomena, fully integrated within a CMOS-compatible technology at telecommunication wavelengths and room temperature, ensuring full compatibility with commercial electronic systems. We will develop and explore: (i) a hybrid material platform supporting novel phenomena that may significantly push the limits of integration and speed, including quantum effects, 2D materials, metamaterials, heavily-doped semiconductors, and plasmonic materials; (ii) novel theoretical tools, including analytical and numerical methods, as well as fundamental bounds on efficiency and speed, capturing the involved complex multiphysics problems, and including and integrating plasmonic, electronic, nonlinear and quantum effects; (iii) various nanofabrication techniques to realize CMOS-compatible, cost-effective, ultralow power, and ultrafast nanodevices on hybrid substrates; (iv) the fundamental physics of light-matter interaction, quantum and plasmon related phenomena at the nanoscale, using modeling and characterization tools based on far-field and near-field techniques; (v) new concepts for nanophotonics, applying the paradigm of metatronics, ε-near-zero, hyperbolic metasurfaces, and meta-electronics.
Working at the frontiers of quantum optics, metamaterials and plasmonics, our efforts will unveil groundbreaking phenomena beyond the realized nanodevices, significantly broadening the reach of our efforts. The unique and proper synergy among leading experts in fabrication, characterization and modeling of nanophotonic devices will allow exploring to its full extent the real impact of the proposed technologies on several exciting applications of interest to DoD and more broadly to the entire society, pushing the limits in optical signal manipulation, information processing, localized sources, and data storage, among many others.