Heterogeneously Integrated Nano-Photonic Materials and Devices: from Fundamental Science to Emerging Applications
Abstract:
In this presentation, I will focus on heterogeneously integrated nano-photonic materials and devices, primarily photonic crystals and plasmonic materials integrated with various functional materials, to achieve breakthroughs in fundamental science and bring transformative impact to emerging applications in the years to come. The first topic will cover ultra-energy-efficient electro-optic modulators using silicon photonic crystal nanocavity driven by transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), with the goal to relieve the energy usage crisis of modern data centers. Compared with traditional semiconductor materials, TCOs possess many superior electronic and photonic properties that were only identified in recent years. Applications and on-going research of high mobility TCO materials include photonic integrated circuits, epsilon-near-zero devices, and electrically tunable meta-surfaces. In the second topic, I will review my ten-year research path in a God-created photonic material --- diatom biosilica, which is a type of algae with exquisite photonic crystal nanostructures. By integrating plasmonic nanoparticles with such marvelous creatures, my group demonstrated surface-enhanced Raman scattering biosensors with unprecedented sensitivity, which found broad-range applications in biomarker sensing, food safety, public health, and environmental protection.
Biography:
Dr. Alan Wang is the Mearse Endowed Chair Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Baylor University. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. He is the Principal Investigator of the Nano-Optics & Advanced Health Sensing (NOAHS) Lab, which focuses on the research of photonic integrated circuits, nanophotonic devices, and various nano-scale optical sensors based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering, infrared absorption, and fluorescence imaging. During his research career, Dr. Wang has raised over $9M dollars in externally funded research from NSF, AFOSR, DARPA, NIH, NASA and USDA, along with several industry sponsors such as Hewlett Packard and Intel Corp. He has more than 110 journal publications and 120 conference presentations including 20 plenary/invited presentations. He also holds seven granted or pending U.S. patents. He is a Senior Member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Optical Society of America (OSA), and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE).
