Engineered electrophotonic nanosystems

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Maintenance of economic growth across diverse market sectors requires continued evolution in applications that exploit increasingly sophisticated materials technology.  Using a complex systems design approach, based on nanowire fabrication process technology, we are developing a multifunctional materials system and design paradigm exploiting optoelectronic nanostructures coupled to photon transport architectures for bi-directional control of device operation.  We use quantum dots grown inside nanowires, whose positions are controlled through a templating process.  By mixing nanowires of various compositions and size, we can place quantum dots as integral parts of microstructured arrays that form, e.g., a planar photonic crystal.  This permits the local photonic density of states to be tailored through numerical design and simulation.  Our present focus is on the ability to all-optically manipulate the flow of light through an enhancement of the nonlinear properties of the system via interacting quantum dot chains.  The control aspects come in at a later stage though manipulation of the electronic densities of state.  Our design and simulation information is used to inform fabrication process development, which we are engaged in collaboratively.  The device prototypes are analyzed in our nanosystems characterization facility to fully close the design loop, thus permitting us to realize ever more sophisticated applications of this technology.  Our approach is predicated on a "smart systems" perspective for exploitation of technology that cannot arise within the current Moore's law paradigm.  It will hopefully render irrelevant the distinction between hybrid and monolithic integration in future technologies that meld the electronic and the photonic at the chip level.