Dream Fellowship - Professor Edmund Linfield

在过去的15-20年里，太赫兹(THz)频率科学和工程领域取得了显著的发展，现已成为一项充满活力的、国际性的、跨学科的研究活动。然而，尽管国际社会作出了长期努力，但由于缺乏紧凑的固态电源，进入和利用这一电磁频谱中心区域(频率为300 GHz至10太赫兹)仍然存在困难。尽管有这些困难，但THz频谱的潜在应用范围是巨大的，包括：天文学；制药过程监测；无线通信；皮肤成像；以及凝聚态物理和纳米结构的研究。同样，在开发太赫兹光源方面也取得了很大进展，国际上的具体重点是开发太赫兹量子级联激光器(QCL)，这是2002年首次展示的。太赫兹研究人员面临着许多令人兴奋的挑战。我特别感兴趣的是这样的问题：1)我们如何在太赫兹频率范围内测量凝聚态系统(无论是半导体、超导还是磁性)和纳米结构？什么新的，基本的，物理学将会被揭示，特别是在低温和高磁场下？2)一个人能从光子和电子两个方面设计太赫兹QCL，以制造一个像固态一样普遍存在的源，半导体器件在光谱的其他部分？太赫兹QCL能否满足星载技术对太赫兹天文学的严格要求？3)太赫兹辐射能否用于研究生物材料，特别是在细胞水平上？毫无疑问，为了最大限度地扩大太赫兹光谱范围的影响，科学和工程领域的研究人员之间需要进行跨学科的合作。这带来了许多挑战，我将通过这次奖学金来探索这些挑战。该奖学金将使我从目前的大学教学/行政承诺中解放出来，并使我能够专注于解决这些关键问题，从而确定下一个十年及以后太赫兹科学和工程领域的国际议程。这将使我能够延长对国际顶尖研究人员的访问，这是大学承诺通常不可能做到的。通过这些访问，我不仅将在太赫兹领域开发新的研究活动，还将了解一些世界领先的研究人员如何开发创意，如何组建从学术人员到研究生的成功研究团队，以及如何在传统界限之外进行跨学科研究。然后，我将把这些想法与我迄今用来建立研究团队和项目的方法结合起来，并利用英国国内的专业组织为我的研究带来开发创造力的新方法。

The last 15-20 years have witnessed a remarkable growth in the field of terahertz (THz) frequency science and engineering, which has now become a vibrant, international, cross-disciplinary research activity. Yet, despite long-standing efforts by the international community, difficulties remain in accessing and exploiting this central region of the electromagnetic spectrum (300 GHz to 10 THz in frequency) owing to the lack of compact, solid state, sources. Notwithstanding these difficulties, the range of potential applications for the THz frequency range of the spectrum is enormous, and includes: astronomy; pharmaceutical process monitoring; wireless communications; dermatological imaging; and the study of condensed matter physics and nanostructures. Equally, much progress has been made in developing THz sources, with a specific international focus being on the development of THz quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), which were first demonstrated in 2002. Many exciting challenges face THz researchers. Of particular interest to me are questions such as:1) How can we measure condensed matter systems (whether semiconducting, superconducting or magnetic), and nanostructures, in the THz frequency range? What new, fundamental, physics will be revealed, especially at cryogenic temperatures and at high magnetic fields? 2) Can one engineer THz QCLs both photonically and electronically to make a source that is as ubiquitous as solid state, semiconductor devices are in other parts of the spectrum? Can THz QCLs meet the stringent requirements of space-borne technology for THz astronomy? 3) Can THz radiation be used to study biological materials, especially at a cellular level? It is undoubtedly true that to maximise impact across the THz spectral range, there is a requirement for inter-disciplinary collaboration between researchers across science and engineering. This presents many challenges, and it is such challenges that I will explore through this Fellowship. The Fellowship will free up my time from current University teaching/administrative commitments, and allow me to focus on addressing such key issues, and hence define the international agenda for the next decade and beyond in the field of THz science and engineering. It will allow me to have extended visits to leading international researchers, in a way that it is not normally possible with University commitments. From these visits, I will not only develop new research activities in the THz field, but also understand how some of the world's leading researchers develop creative ideas, assemble successful research teams from academic staff through to graduate students, and undertake cross-disciplinary research outside the traditional boundaries. I will then take these ideas, combine them with the metods that I have used to build research teams and projects to date, and use professional organisations within the UK to bring new approaches for developing creativity to my research.