Quantum Dot On-Chip Laser

Year: 
2016

Project Description

 The purpose of this project is to build lasers on silicon chip so that circuit designers can create the light sources that they would need to make fully integrated optical circuits. While this may in theory seem easy, the materials needed to make lasers are extremely difficult to integrate onto silicon. When you look at water droplets on a penny for example, you will see that rather than forming a flat interface, the water forms little beads because the water is not compatible with the copper in the penny. In a similar way, when the compounds used for growing lasers are deposited on silicon, they don’t form flat continuous layers. It is the purpose of this project to control the surface structure such that the droplet like quantum dots (which can be used to emit light) form in the desired morphology.

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