We propose the acquisition of a picosecond streak camera system for time-resolved measurements of photoluminescence from semiconductor nanostructures. The equipment will be located in the PIs optics laboratory in Ginzton, where it would be completely accessible to the co-PIs and their students residing in the same building, as well as to the interested users from other research groups around Stanford. Ginzton Laboratory has a strong infrastructure for nanophotonics research, including state-of-the-art optics laboratories of the investigators and a shared microfabrication facility. In addition, the Stanford Nanofabrication Facility is located in the neighboring building and is extensively used by the investigators. The streak camera will complement the existing capabilities of the PIs and broaden their research in the fields of nanoscale photonics and quantum information processing, which are already major thrusts in the Ginzton Laboratory. Moreover, the camera will enable research training of a large number of graduate and undegraduate students from the research groups of the investigators in performing time-resolved spectroscopy and will thus be important in education of a new generation of scientists who will exploit nanophotonics at its full potential. The PIs also place an emphasis on research training of women and other underrepresented groups; for example, there are usually around 10 women researchers (mainly experimentalists) across their groups. The streak camera system is capable of unprecedented sensitivity in performing time-resolved photoluminescence measurements. If the NSF decides to fund this project, the activity that would result would be time-resolved study of light emitted from photonic nanostructures (e.g., photonic crystal structures) with embedded emitters, such as excitons in quantum dots or quantum well impurities. This is crucial for development of novel low-threshold and high-speed lasers and optical modulators, as well as hardware for emerging technologies such as quantum computation and quantum communication (e.g., single and entangled photon sources and photon storage components). PIs are presently leading research programs focused on quantum information processing in the optical domain and on development of optical interconnects; these programs would also greatly benefit from the acquisition of the proposed equipment.
