Rare-earth-doped and semiconductor nanocrystal lasers for photonic applications

用于光子应用的稀土掺杂半导体纳米晶体激光器

• 批准号: 2744966
• 金额: --
• 依托单位: University of Strathclyde
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Studentship
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2022 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=studentship-2744966
• 关键词: Rare; earth; doped; semiconductor; nanocrystal

The project will pioneer micro-resonators made from rare-earth doped upconverting nanoparticles and/or luminescent semiconductor nanocrystals in order to enable novel microscopic/sub-microscopic lasers for use in photonic integrated circuits and as enhanced fluorescent/lasing labels for sensing and biomedical applications. Background: Luminescent nanoparticles (1nm to 50nm in size) can act as the building blocks of higher level, micrometre-scale photonic structures (super-crystals or super-assemblies) that can be designed for enhanced fluorescence and light matter-interactions, as well as for multi-functionalities. Our team has recently demonstrated micro-size lasers using semiconductor nanocrystals that self-assemble into microsphere resonators under the right conditions. These structures are a great platform to study laser phenomena at a very small scale. They also create opportunities for new applications in integrated optics (as microscopic light sources) and in biomedical sciences (for example as efficient fluorescent and sensing labels that could be used in-vivo). We are now expanding our "building blocks library" to rare-earth doped upconverting nanoparticles - these enable efficient anti-Stokes emission (e.g., they can emit in the visible or UV when excited by near infra-red light), an attractive feature for utilisation of microlasers within biological samples. Our first target is to demonstrate a self-assembled upconverted laser, which has never been reported so far.Our team is therefore pioneering these new types of microlasers with the underlying goals of understanding their physics, of revolutionising the way pathogens or pollutants are targeted and detected, and of establishing innovative artificial optical materials. This studentship will contribute to achieving these goals. It is envisaged that the focus will be on integration of these materials with photonic integrated circuitry (microfabrication of photonic elements by lithography and self-assembly, microlaser integration, and testing), although there is flexibility depending on the student background and aspirations.Objectives: As part of the team the student will work towards the following objectives:(i) Synthesise microlasers using bottom-up (self-assembly) and hybrid top-down/bottom-up fabrication approaches;(ii) Add functionalities to the microlasers (to be able to interact with and "sense" their environment) through surface engineering;(iii) Characterise the physical (material and morphology) and optical properties of the microlasers; progress understanding of physical processes in these microstructures;(iv) Integrate microlasers with photonic circuitry components - paving the way for novel integrated optics and lab-on-chip devices;(v) Initiate and develop applications

该项目将开创由稀土掺杂的上转换纳米粒子和/或发光半导体纳米晶体制成的微谐振器，以实现用于光子集成电路的新型微观/亚微观激光器，以及用于传感和生物医学应用的增强荧光/激光标签。背景：发光纳米粒子（尺寸为1nm至50nm）可以作为更高级别、微米尺度光子结构（超级晶体或超级组件）的基石，可以设计用于增强荧光和光物质相互作用，以及多功能。我们的团队最近展示了使用半导体纳米晶体在适当条件下自组装成微球谐振器的微尺寸激光器。这些结构是在很小的尺度上研究激光现象的一个很好的平台。它们还为集成光学（作为微观光源）和生物医学科学（例如作为可在体内使用的高效荧光和传感标签）中的新应用创造了机会。我们现在正在将我们的“积木库”扩展到稀土掺杂的上转换纳米粒子——这些纳米粒子能够实现高效的反斯托克斯发射（例如，当被近红外光激发时，它们可以在可见光或紫外线下发射），这是在生物样品中利用微激光的一个有吸引力的特征。我们的第一个目标是展示一个自组装的上转换激光器，迄今为止还没有报道过。因此，我们的团队正在开拓这些新型微激光器，其潜在目标是了解其物理特性，彻底改变病原体或污染物的定位和检测方式，并建立创新的人工光学材料。这个学生将有助于实现这些目标。根据学生的背景和期望，课程的重点将放在将这些材料与光子集成电路（通过光刻和自组装的光子元件的微加工、微激光集成和测试）的集成上。目标：作为团队的一部分，学生将朝着以下目标努力：(i)使用自下而上（自组装）和混合自上而下/自下而上的制造方法合成微激光器；通过表面工程增加微激光器的功能（使其能够与环境相互作用并“感知”其环境）；描述微激光器的物理（材料和形态）和光学特性；对这些微观结构的物理过程的新认识；集成微激光器与光子电路元件-为新型集成光学和芯片实验室设备铺平道路；发起和发展应用