I-Corps: Quantum Wires and Dots for Optoelectronic Devices

由于用于制造和金属3D打印机的激光焊接机的普及，高功率激光的市场正在爆炸式增长。该项目旨在展示发光二极管(LED)和二极管激光器的高电光转换效率。如果LED灯泡将电能转化为光的效率更高，那么在相同的能源消耗下，LED灯泡将更加明亮。演示将基于新的纳米结构：量子线。目前最先进的LED和二极管激光器是基于量子井的概念，尽管已经预测基于量子线等较小纳米结构的设备具有更高的效率。该团队进行的工作的初步结果表明，这是一种制造高质量量子线的新方法，并随后用于高效率的LED和激光。由于激光引起的缺陷，直接对表面进行激光修饰来制备高质量的纳米结构一直被认为是有问题的，特别是自1980年以来，人们已经知道高功率激光脉冲照射在III-V半导体上会引起损伤。然而，高功率激光脉冲辐照的GaAs(001)表面的初步数据表明，当激光脉冲的干涉照射在表面上产生瞬时热栅时，如果激光产生的纳米级特征小于100 nm，则没有化学损伤。展示高质量纳米结构作为光电子器件的增益介质具有重要意义，因为它也适用于其他材料体系，以迎来光电子器件效率的全面提高。如果成功，开发的直接激光制造技术将被用于实现基于新型量子线的概念验证二极管激光器。

The market for high power lasers is exploding due to the popularity of laser welders for manufacturing and metal 3D printers. This project aims to demonstrate high electricity-to-light conversion efficiency for light emitting diodes (LED) and diode lasers. LED lighting bulbs will be brighter at the same energy used if they are more efficient in converting electricity into light. The demonstration will be based on novel nanostructures: quantum wires. Current state-of-the-art LEDs and diode lasers are based on the concept of quantum wells, even though higher efficiencies have been predicted from devices based on smaller nanostructures such as quantum wires. Preliminary results from the work conducted by this team suggest a novel route to fabricate quality quantum wires and their subsequent uses for high efficiency LEDs and lasers. Fabrication of quality nanostructures by direct laser modification of surfaces has been regarded problematic due to laser induced defects, especially irradiation of high power laser pulses on III-V semiconductors has been known to induce damages since 1980. However, preliminary data from GaAs(001) surfaces that are irradiated by high power laser pulses suggest that the laser produced nanoscale features, if smaller than 100 nm, are free from chemical damages when the interferential irradiation of laser pulses creates transient thermal gratings on the surfaces. The demonstration of quality nanostructures as gain media for optoelectronic devices is fundamentally important because it is applicable to other material systems in order to usher the across-the-board efficiency increase for optoelectronic devices. If successful, developed direct laser fabrication techniques will be employed to realize proof-of-concept, diode lasers that are based on novel quantum wires.