Electrically Driven Micro- and Nano-Scale Semiconductor Light Sources

Semiconductor quantum light sources

Applying quantum light states to photonic applications allows functionalities that are not possible using ‘ordinary’ classical light. For example, carrying information with single photons provides a means to test the secrecy of optical communications, which could soon be applied to the problem of sharing digital cryptographic keys1,2. Although secure quantum-key-distribution systems based on we...

Towards electrically driven nanowire single-photon sources.

A vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) growth of microwhiskers was developed by Wagner et al. in the 1960s. The recent re-examination of this method by the groups of Lieber, Yang, Samuelson, Wang, and others has resulted in the flourishing research into nanowires (NWs). Nearly all the IV, II– VI, III–V, and IV–VI semiconductor NWs can be synthesized. Ternary compound semiconductors have also been demonstra...

Electrically pumped silicon waveguide light sources.

We report simulations of electrically pumped waveguide emitters in which the emissive layer contains silicon nanoclusters and erbium ions. Plasmonic coupling to metallic or semi-metallic overlayers provides enhancement of the radiative rate of erbium ions, enabling high quantum efficiency emission. Using 2D and 3D finite difference time domain (FDTD) simulations we show that up to 75% of the li...

Light-Responsive Polymer Micro- and Nano-Capsules

A significant amount of academic and industrial research efforts are devoted to the encapsulation of active substances within microor nanocarriers. The ultimate goal of core–shell systems is the protection of the encapsulated substance from the environment, and its controlled and targeted release. This can be accomplished by employing “stimuli-responsive” materials as constituents of the capsul...

Protein-Templated Synthesis and Assembly of Visible-Light-Driven Semiconductor Nano-Architectures for Efficient Hydrogen Production