CAREER: Enhancement Plan - Research on Blue Semiconductor Lasers and Early Motivation of Electrical Engineering Students

9502888 Menoni一个为期四年的职业发展计划，结合了蓝色半导体激光器的技术重要领域的研究计划和教育活动集中在一个新生课程的发展“介绍电气工程”，旨在激励学生在他们的职业生涯早期，提出。 提出了一个研究计划，研究的光学和电学性质的II-VI族四元ZnMgSSe，具有显着的发展潜力的短波长半导体激光器。 短波长半导体激光器将极大地影响高密度光学存储器、激光打印和其它重要的技术应用，其能力目前受到红外激光源的使用的限制。 蓝绿激光器已被证实。 然而，它们的输出特性对于大多数这些应用来说仍然远远不够理想。 通过对控制激光器工作的材料特性和器件结构相关工艺的详细了解，可以改善激光器的特性。 我建议研究ZnMgSSe多量子阱中的载流子约束，载流子捕获和逃逸以及复合的机制。 这些研究的结果将首先应用于边缘发射激光器的发展，其特征在于从阈值电流和增益和损耗测量。 在边发射器的研究中获得的知识将应用于垂直腔面发射激光器的设计。 建议的教育活动的主要重点在于开发一门新生课程“电气工程概论”。“这门课程的目的是吸引学生的兴趣，在他们的职业生涯的早期阶段进入电机工程的不同领域，从而降低辍学率。 我也设想这个类作为一个途径，教他们不同的工具，他们将使用整个职业生涯，并向他们展示如何有趣和具有挑战性的职业可以。 ***

9502888 Menoni A four year career development program that combines a research plan in the technological important area of blue semiconductor lasers and educational activities centered in the development of a freshmen course "Introduction to Electrical Engineering" designed to motivate students early on in their career, is proposed. A research plan is proposed to study the optical and electronic properties of the II-VI quaternary ZnMgSSe which have significant potential for the development of short wavelength semiconductor lasers. Short wavelength semiconductor lasers will greatly impact high density optical memories, laser printing and other important technological applications, whose capabilities are presently limited by the use of infrared laser sources. Blue-green laser have been demonstrated. However, their output characteristics are still far from being ideal for most of these applications. Improved characteristics will arise from a detailed understanding of the material properties and device structure dependent processes which control the laser operation. I propose to study carrier confinement, the mechanisms of carrier capture and escape and recombination in ZnMgSSe MQWs. The results of these studies will be first applied to the development of edge emitting lasers which will be characterized from threshold current and gain and loss measurements. The knowledge gained in the study of edge emitters will be applied to the design of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. The main focus of the proposed educational activities lie in the development of a freshmen course "Introduction to Electrical Engineering." This course is designed to captivate the interest of the students into the different areas of Electrical Engineering at an early stage on their career, and thus reduce the drop-out rate. I also envision this class as an avenue to teach them different tools they will use throughout their career and to show them how fun and challenging this pr ofession can be. ***