CIOMP-OSA International Summer Session: Lasers and Their Applications in Changchun

EXHIBITOR'S PROFILE:

Invited Presentations

Invited lecturers will present multiple times during the week on various subjects. Students will be able to interact with the instructors and there will be time for question and answer periods.

Prof. Federico CAPASSO, Harvard Univ., USA

Quantum Cascade Lasers: Widely tailorable light sources from the mid-infrared to sub-millimeter waves

Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) s represent a radical departure from diode lasers in that they don’t rely on the bandgap for light emission. This freedom from bandgap slavery has many far reaching implications that will be fully explored in this talk. I will trace the path from invention to exciting advances in the physics and applications of these revolutionary lasers which cover the mid- and far-ir spectrum and are broadly impacting sensing, spectroscopy, and sub-wavelength photonics. The unipolar nature of QCLs combined with the capabilities of electronic band structure engineering leads to unprecedented design flexibility and functionality compared to other lasers. Topics to be discusses also include: high power and room temperature CW operation in the Mid-IR, room temperature QCL based Terahertz, QCL with broadband lasing properties.  QCLs have been used as a platform to demonstrate new plasmonic device concepts raging form resonant optical antenna, collimator and polarizers. The talk will conclude with applications to chemical sensing and trace gas analysis along with the ongoing commercialization of this technology.

Sub-wavelength Photonics: From light manipulation to quantum levitation at the nanoscale

A wide range of phenomena and applications across a spectral range from the visible to the mid-infrared, made possible by surface plasmon polaritons and by advanced fabrication techniques, including soft lithography, will be presented. They include: (a) plasmonic collimators and lenses that have allowed one to dramatically reduce the divergence of both mid-ir and THz quantum cascade lasers and also create multiple collimated beams in arbitrary directions,  (b)plasmonic polarizers for arbitrary control of laser polarization  (c) plasmonic laser antennas that create intense nanospots for spatially resolved chemical imaging and ultra high density optical storage; (d) frequency selective surfaces enabled by a new soft lithography technique  (e) antenna arrays for surface enhanced Raman scattering;  (f) attractive and repulsive optomechanical forces between dielectric and plasmonic waveguides at sub-wavelength distances. Finally at nanoscale distances forces arising from quantum fluctuations cannot be neglected give rising to both attractive and repulsive Casimir forces. The latter, recently measured by us for the first time, could lead to ultralow friction mechanical devices based on quantum electrodynamical levitation.

References
F. Capasso, N.Yu, E. Cubukcu E. Smythe; Using plasmonics to shape light beams Optics and Photonics News May (2009)
N.Yu et al. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 9, 11 (2010)
E. Cubukcu et al. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 14, 1448 (2008)
Q Xu et al.  Nano Letters 7, 2800 (2007).
E.J. Smythe et al.ACS Nano 3, 59 (2009)
E.J Smythe et al. Nano Letters 9, 1132 (2009)
D. Woolf et al. Optics Express 17, 19996 (2009)
J. N. Munday et al. Nature 457, 170 (2009)

Professor Federico CAPASSO is the Robert Wallace Professor of Applied Physics at Harvard University, which he joined in 2003 after a 27 years career at Bell Labs where he did research, became Bell Labs Fellow and held several management positions including Vice President for Physical Research. His research has spanned a broad range of topics from applications to basic science in the areas of electronics, photonics, and nanoscale science and technology. He is a co-inventor of the quantum cascade laser. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His awards include the King Faisal International Prize for Science, the Berthold Leibinger Future prize, the Julius Springer Prize for Applied Physics, the American Physical Society Arthur Schawlow Prize, the IEEE Edison Medal, the Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute, the Optical Society of America Wood Prize, the Materials Research Society Medal and the Rank Prize in Optoelectronics.

Prof. Peter DELFYETT, Univ. of Central Florida/CREOL, USA

Ultrafast Coherent Optical Signal Processing: Key Technologies & Applications

The development of high speed communications, interconnects and signal processing are critical for an information based economy. Lightwave technologies offer the promise of high bandwidth connectivity from component development that is manufacturable, cost effective, and electrically efficient. The concept of optical frequency/wavelength division multiplexing has revolutionized methods of optical communications, however the development of optical systems using 100’s of wavelengths present challenges for network planners. The development of compact, efficient optical sources capable of generating a multiplicity of optical frequencies/wavelength channels from a single device could potentially simplify the operation and management of high capacity optical interconnects and links. Over the years, we have been developing mode-locked semiconductor lasers to emit very short optical pulses (less than <1 trillionth of a second) at high pulse repetition frequencies (~ 10 GHz) for a wide variety of applications, but geared toward optical communications using time division multiplexed optical links. The periodic nature of optical pulse generation from mode-locked semiconductor diode lasers also make these devices ideal candidates for the generation of high quality optical frequency combs, or multiple wavelengths, in addition to the temporally stable, high peak intensity optical pulses that one is accustomed to. The optical frequency combs enables a variety of optical communication and signal processing applications that can exploit the large bandwidth and speed that femtosecond pulse generation implies, however the aggregate speed and bandwidth can be achieved by spectrally channelizing the bandwidth, and utilize lower speed electronics for control of the individual spectral components of the mode-locked laser. This presentation will highlight our recent results in the generation of stabilized frequency combs, and in developing approaches for filtering, modulating and detecting individual comb components. We then show how these technologies can be applied in optical communications and signal processing applications such as optical code division multiplexing, arbitrary waveform generation, arbitrary waveform measurement, and matched filtering for pattern recognition.  

Professor Peter J. DELFYETT is the University of Central Florida Trustee Chair Professor of Optics, EE & Physics at the The College of Optics & Photonics, and the Center for Research and Education in Optics and Lasers (CREOL) at the University of Central Florida. Prior to this, he was a Member of the Technical Staff at Bell Communications Research from 1988-1993. Dr. Delfyett served as the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics (2001-2006), and served on the Board of Directors of the Optical Society of America. He served as an Associate Editor of IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, and was Executive Editor of IEEE LEOS Newsletter (1995-2000). He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America, Fellow of IEEE/LEOS, was a member of the Board of Governors of IEEE-LEOS (2000-2002). In addition, Dr. Delfyett has been awarded the National Science Foundation’s Presidential Faculty Fellow Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, which is awarded to the Nation’s top 20 young scientists. Dr. Delfyett has published over 500 articles in refereed journals and conference proceedings, has been awarded 30 United States PatentsHe was awarded the University of Central Florida’s 2001 Pegasus Professor Award which is the highest honor awarded by the University.  Dr. Delfyett has also endeavored to transfer technology to the private sector, and helped to found “Raydiance, Inc.” which is a spin-off company developing high power, ultrafast laser systems, based on Dr. Delfyett’s research, for applications in medicine, defense, material processing, biotech andother key technological markets.  Most recently, he was awarded the APS Edward Bouchet Award for his significant scientific contributions in the area of ultrafast optical device physics and semiconductor diode based ultrafast lasers, and for his exemplary and continuing efforts in the career development of underrepresented minorities in science and engineering.

Prof. James HARRIS, Stanford Univ., USA

Heterojunctions and Epitaxy: The Foundations of Photonics

Photonic devices are totally dependent upon heterojunctions and a broad range of heteroepitaxial materials produced by OM-VPE and MBE. In addition to compositional heterojunctions, strain and metastable growth of new alloy materials have significantly increased the performance and addressable wavelength regions due to these materials technology enhancements. The growth technologies, new materials and resulting heterojunction devices are described.

Si based Photonics

I will describe our work on developing a Ge/SiGe quantum confined Stark effect modulators and application of strain and GeSn alloys to develop a Si compatible coherent source.

Professor James HARRIS is the James and Ellenor Chesebrough Professor of Electrical Engineering, Applied Physics and Materials Science at Stanford University. He received B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University in 1964, 1965 and 1969, respectively. In 1969, he joined the Rockwell International Science Center and in 1982, he became Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University. His current research interests are in the physics and application of ultra-small structures and novel materials to new optoelectronic and spin based devices and integrated photonic biosensors. He has supervised over 100 PhD students and has over 850 publications and 23 issued US patents in these areas. Dr. Harris is a Fellow of IEEE, the American Physical Society, Optical Society of America and Materials Research Society. He received the 2000 IEEE Morris N. Liebmann Award, the 2000 International Compound Semiconductor Conference Welker Medal, an IEEE Third Millennium Medal, the 2008 international MBE Conference MBE Innovator Award an Alexander von Humboldt Senior Research Prize in 1998 for his contributions to epitaxial growth of compound semiconductors, novel devices and technology.

Prof. Irina T. Sorokina, Technical University of Vienna, Austria

Irina T. Sorokina was born in 1963 in Moscow, Russia. She received her Masters Degree in Physics and Mathematics from the Lomonosov State University in Moscow and Ph.D. degree in Laser Physics from the General Physics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1992, and in 2003 a Habilitation degree in Quantum Electronics and Laser Technology from the Technical University of Vienna, where since 1991 she has been a researcher, since 1999.

Prof. David A.B. MILLER, Stanford Univ., USA

Rationale and devices for optical interconnects to chips

This lecture will cover the reasons why we consider the use of optics not only for long distance networks, but also for connections all the way down to silicon chips. It will consider the potential applications of optics generally in digital computers, including optical interconnects to chips and optical timing injection. These potential applications generate demanding requirements on optoelectronic devices. Device approaches, including recent interest in silicon-based photonics, will be introduced.

Nanoscience and nanotechnology for advanced interconnect devices

This lecture will cover some advanced approaches to optical and optoelectronic devices, with emphasis on the exploitation of nanoscale structures to meet challenging device requirements. Subjects discussed will include quantum well electroabsorption devices, other topics in nanophotonics, including wavelength splitters, nanometallic antennas, and fundamental limits to nanophotonics, and one surprise topic!

Professor David A. B. MILLER received his B.Sc. from St Andrews University and, in 1979, the Ph.D. from Heriot-Watt University, both in Physics. He was with Bell Laboratories from 1981 to 1996, as a department head from 1987, latterly of the Advanced Photonics Research Department. He is currently the W. M. Keck Professor of Electrical Engineering, a Professor by Courtesy of Applied Physics, and a Co-Director of the Stanford Photonics Research Center at Stanford University. His research interests include physics and devices in nanophotonics, nanometallics, and quantum-well optoelectronics, and fundamentals and applications of optics in information sensing, switching, and processing. He has published more than 230 scientific papers, holds 69 patents, has received numerous awards, is a Fellow of OSA, IEEE, APS, the Royal Society, the Royal Society Edinburgh, holds two honorary degrees, and is a Member of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering.

Prof. Peter UNGER, Univ. of Ulm, Germany

Physics and Technology of Edge-Emitting High-Power Semiconductor Lasers

An introduction to the physics, design, and fabrication of edge-emitting semiconductor diode lasers is presented with emphasis on high-power operation. Beginning with a general section about fundamental aspects and elementary physics of these optoelectronic devices, topics like optical gain, quantum-well structures, optical resonators, mirror coatings, optical waveguides, mode patterns, beam profiles, laser rate equations, device properties, high-power design, epitaxy, process technology, and monolithic integration are discussed in more detail.

Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers (VCSELs) and Semiconductor Disk Lasers

An introduction to physics, design, and applications of vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs) and optically pumped semiconductor disk lasers is presented. The design and optimization of the rather sophisticated epitaxially grown layer sequence consisting of multilayer Bragg mirrors and multi-quantum-well gain regions is discussed. The properties of these lasers are compared to edge-emitting semiconductor laser diodes and solid-state thin-disk lasers. VCSELs are low-power (a few 10mW) semiconductor lasers which are pumped electrically and have rather small dimensions, so they can be easily arranged in two-dimensional arrays and coupled to optical fibers. Optically pumped semiconductor disk lasers exhibit output powers in the watt range and have excellent power conversion efficiencies. Due to their external cavity, they are ideal devices for intracavity second harmonic generation to obtain visible laser emission using linear and folded cavity setups.

Professor Peter UNGER received the Dipl.-Phys. degree and the Dr. rer. nat. degree in physics from RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in 1985 and 1989, respectively. In 1985, he joined the Institute of Semiconductor Electronics at the RWTH Aachen University where he was involved in nanometer-scale electron-beam lithography, dry-etching techniques, and the fabrication technology of Fresnel zone plates for x-ray microscopy. From 1989 to 1994, he was a Research Staff Member at the IBM Zurich Research Laboratory, Switzerland, where he was working on the design and fabrication technology of semiconductor laser diodes. Since 1994, he is Professor at the Institute of Optoelectronics at Ulm University, Germany. His current research interest is semiconductor laser devices for high-power applications.