Georgia Institute of TechnologyOptics + Photonics at Georgia Tech
Dr. Dickson and researchers in his labDr. Kippelen with graduate researcher

Optoelectronics and Nanophotonics

RESEARCH FACULTY

Tech Researcher
Optoelectronics and Nanophotonics Researchers
Meet the Georgia Tech faculty involved in optoelectronics and nanophotonics research.

Optoelectronics relates to devices that function as electrical-to-optical or optical-to-electrical transducers. Examples of such devices include photodiodes, laser diodes, and integrated optical circuits and are commonly used in numerous applications in our daily lives. Optoelectronic devices can deal with the mutual conversion of electrical and optical energy and can be used in many sensing applications.

optoelectronic researcher
Inspection of a silicon solar cell developed at the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics at Georgia Tech.
(Courtesy of A. Rohatgi)

Examples of electrical-to-optical transducer effects include the ability to change the refractive index of a material with an applied field. These processes discovered by Friedrich Pockels and John Kerr during the second half of the nineteenth century are used today to modulate laser beams at high speed for optical communication. The birth of modern-day optoelectronics was marked by the invention of the laser in 1960. Since then, semiconductor lasers have transformed the way we listen to music and watch movies. Today, every household in the United States owns several lasers. Photodetectors are used in digital photography, and solar cells initially discovered at Bells Laboratories in 1954 form the basis of solar panels and are expected to play a major role in clean power generation in the future.

unknown
Photograph of a two-dimensional photonic crystal device fabricated in the Microelectronics Research Center (MiRC). Periodic structures with dimensions in the 100s of nanometers are fabricated utilizing the JEOL JBX-9300FS electron beam lithography system followed by inductively coupled plasma etching on a silicon on insulator (SOI) and amorphous silicon on insulator (ASOI) substrates.
(Courtesy of C. Summers)

Nanophotonics is an emerging field that builds on recent advances in nanoscale science and engineering. By controlling the growth of materials at a nanometer scale, scientists are developing new optical materials with unprecedented performance. Likewise, new patterning techniques such as the e-beam lithography capabilities at Georgia Tech allow the patterning and reproduction of optoelectronic devices with nanoscale resolution. That increased resolution leads to increased integration, but more importantly allows the design of new artificial devices with intricate optical and electrical properties.

unknown
Photograph of a 3-x-3 array of organic light-emitting diodes developed at Georgia Tech's Center for Organic Photonics and Electronics.
(Courtesy of B. Kippelen)

Georgia Tech researchers are actively involved in the development of next-generation solar cells for clean and renewable energy production, UV and high-efficiency solid-state light sources for future lighting and new biomedical sensors, novel optical devices based on photonic crystals that will provide the active switching and routing devices of tomorrow's optical communication networks.