Materials that absorb, emit, and guide light underpin solar and thermophotovoltaic cells, infrared sensors, lasers, efficient lighting, and ultrafast optical switches. TEMI faculty grow ultrapure semiconductor crystals and nanostructures with atomic precision by molecular beam epitaxy, engineer quantum dots, metamaterials, and topological materials, and synthesize earth-abundant molecules and thin films that absorb and emit light. By understanding how light interacts with matter at the nanoscale, they design devices spanning the mid-infrared to the visible for solar and thermal energy conversion, power electronics, and sensing.
Core Faculty
Paul J. Simmonds
Keywords: Electronic Materials, Quantum Materials, Photonic Materials, Nanomaterials, III-V Semiconductors, Superconductors, Topological Insulators, Quantum Dots
Paul J. Simmonds is an Associate Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. His lab works at the convergence between materials science, electrical engineering, and solid-state physics. TEMI helps them harness the power of interdisciplinary collaboration for answering big, important questions. Research interests include novel electronic/photonic nanomaterials, superconductor/semiconductor integration, quantum light sources, topological materials, and infrared devices. The team creates these materials using molecular beam epitaxy, an advanced technique for ultrapure, atomically precise crystal growth. Understanding the physics underlying material behavior allows them to design and tailor their properties for specific applications.
Corey White
Keywords: Semiconductors, Epitaxy, Optoelectronics and Photonics, Dissimilar Materials Integration
Corey White is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering. She specializes in synthesizing III-V semiconductors by molecular beam epitaxy and engineering their optical and structural properties. In particular, her lab seeks to build next-generation (opto)electronic devices with improved performance and efficiency that span mid-infrared to visible wavelengths. Applications for these materials and devices range from data communications and sensing to integrated photonics and quantum information processing.
Thomas Vandervelde
Keywords: Light–Matter Interactions, Semiconductor Photonics, Metamaterials, Plasmonics, Epitaxial Crystal Growth, Infrared Materials and Devices
Thomas Vandervelde is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, with appointments in Mechanical Engineering and in Physics and Astronomy. He studies the interaction of light with matter and the physics of nanostructures and interfaces, with special interest in energy materials. His group combines epitaxial crystal growth of semiconductors with metamaterials and plasmonic structures to engineer how materials and devices absorb and emit light, with applications in energy conversion and infrared detection. This work contributes to TEMI’s optical materials pillar by turning control of light at the nanoscale into more efficient energy and sensing technologies.
Luke Davis
Keywords: Inorganic Materials Chemistry, Zero-Emissions Ironmaking, Critical Metals, Thin-Film Photovoltaics, Molecular Light Absorbers and Emitters, Superconducting Hydrides
Luke Davis is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry. His laboratory works on synthesis and characterization in inorganic and materials chemistry, with a focus on problems that have important societal implications. Current projects include zero-emissions ironmaking and the production of other critical metals by alternative thermochemical routes such as ammonia reduction, earth-abundant sulfide absorbers for tandem thin-film photovoltaics, and high-spin iron and manganese complexes that absorb and emit light. He is also developing new programs on hydride superconductors that could be stable at ambient pressure and on volatile molecular precursors for depositing the metals used in superconducting wires.