Novel optoelectronic functionalities for photonic devices

新的材料和结构，特别是那些用现代纳米技术实现的材料和结构，以及各种物理效应的原始使用，以及巧妙的结构/材料器件设计，是必须成功解决的关键方面，才能使光子器件变得更加高效、廉价，并在许多应用中更受欢迎。这项提议旨在为这一具有挑战性的目标作出贡献。这项研究的目的是基于物理效应在材料结构中的新应用，对光学和光电功能进行理论研究和数值模拟。材料的物理效应，如三阶光学非线性、半导体中的受激发射、金属和半导体中光波与电子等离子体的相互作用以及周期结构中的色散现象将是研究的主要重点。纳米技术的结构将被认为是实现这种新功能的一种手段。例如基于克尔的超快数字开关、等离子体共振光损耗补偿、可重构的非线性周期结构自适应滤波或电信号光存储。其长期目标是为新型光子功能元件开发强大而强大的模拟/设计工具，这些新型光子功能元件在通信、信号处理、计算、传感等领域的各种应用中实现。我们独创的理论和数值方法，如麦克斯韦方程的一种新形式的解，以及线性长函数及其特征值的稳健使用，将是我们朝着这一目标开展研究工作背后的驱动方法。实现这一提议的目标可以对光子设备的一般领域产生重大影响，从而有助于实现光子技术越来越普遍地渗透到我们日常生活的所有领域的本质。

New materials and structures, especially those implemented with modern nanotechnologies, along with an original use of various physical effects and along with clever structural/material device designs are the crucial aspects that have to be attacked successfully for photonic devices to become even more efficient, inexpensive, and more desirable in many applications. This proposal aims at contributing to such a challenging goal. The objective of this research is to investigate theoretically and model numerically optical and optoelectronic functionalities based on novel applications of physical effects in material structuralities. Material physical effects such as third-order optical nonlinearities, stimulated emission in semiconductors, interaction of optical waves with electron plasma in metals and semiconductors, and dispersive phenomena in periodic structures will be the main focus of the studies. Nanotechnology structuralities will be considered as a means to implement such novel functionalities. Examples are Kerr-based ultrafast digital switching, plasmon-resonance optical-loss compensating, reconfigurable nonlinear periodic-structure adaptive filtering, or electrical-signal optical storage. The long term objective is to develop powerful and robust simulation/design tools for novel photonic functionalitites implemented in devices for various applications in the fields of communications, signal processing, computing, sensing, and others. Our original theoretical and numerical approaches, such as a new form of a solution to Maxwell's equations and a robust use of linear prolate functions and their eigenvalues, will be the driving methodologies behind our research work towards this objective. Achieving objectives of this proposal can deliver a significant impact on the general area of photonic devices, thus contributing to enabling the materialization of photonics' nature of being ever more pervasive into all fields of our everyday life.