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

9502888 Menoni提出了一项为期四年的职业发展计划，该计划结合了蓝色半导体激光器技术重要领域的研究计划和以开发新生课程“电气工程导论”为中心的教育活动，旨在激励学生在职业生涯的早期。提出了研究II-VI季系ZnMgSSe的光学和电子性质的研究计划，该材料在短波半导体激光器的开发中具有重要的潜力。短波长半导体激光器将极大地影响高密度光存储器、激光打印和其他重要的技术应用，其能力目前受到使用红外激光源的限制。蓝绿色激光器已被证实。然而，它们的输出特性对于大多数这些应用来说还远远不够理想。改进的特性将产生于对控制激光操作的材料特性和器件结构相关过程的详细了解。我建议在ZnMgSSe MQWs中研究载流子约束、载流子捕获、逃逸和重组机制。这些研究的结果将首先应用于边缘发射激光器的开发，该激光器将通过阈值电流和增益和损耗测量来表征。在边缘发射器的研究中所获得的知识将应用于垂直腔面发射激光器的设计。所建议的教育活动的主要焦点在于开发一门新生课程“电气工程导论”。本课程旨在吸引学生在其职业生涯的早期阶段对电气工程不同领域的兴趣，从而降低辍学率。我还设想这门课是一个途径，教他们在整个职业生涯中使用不同的工具，并向他们展示这个职业是多么有趣和具有挑战性。＊＊＊

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. ***