Intellectual Merit: An NSF Workshop on novel photonic-magnetic devices is to be organized. It will be held in Nara, Japan during September 20-23, 2013. The Workshop will bring together leading American and Japanese scientists and engineers who are at the frontiers of photonic-magnetic device research and development. Leading experts from the US and Japan will present the state of the art in the field of doped magnetic semiconductors and their application in photonics and spintronics. The specific goal of the Workshop is to identify critical open questions facing these fields and on establishing international collaborations to jointly work on their solutions. Workshop topics include: dilute magnetic semiconductors; rare earth and transition metal doping of semiconductors; theoretical modeling of ion incorporation and RT-ferromagnetism; characterization of magneto-optical properties; and potential photonic-magnetic device demonstration.
Broader Impacts: This workshop will provide a forum for leading experts from the US and Japan to present recent breakthroughs concerning doped magnetic semiconductors and potential applications in photonics and spintronics. The cross-pollination of scientific ideas will impact science and society in both the US and the Japan. Junior researchers and doctoral students from the US will receive travel support to present their research areas. This meeting will enhance graduate student education and career development of young scientists by facilitating interactions with international experts from diverse areas of materials science, electric engineering, optical science, and solid state physics. A summary report will be made available via the Workshop website to the research community and the general public.
This award is designated as a Global Venture Fund Award and is being co-funded by NSF's Office of International Science and Engineering.
This grant supported a 3-day international workshop on novel photonic-magnetic devices in Nara, Japan from September 20 to 23rd, 2013, as well as a follow up workshop at Lehigh University that took place on May 20-22, 2014. The topic of the workshops deals with semiconductors that are intentionally doped with transition metal or rare earth metal ions. These ions are responsible for making semiconductor, such as gallium nitride, a permanent magnet. This opens the possibility to combine the materials well-known properties in electronics (i.e.: the ability to control the flow of charge) and photonics (i.e.: the ability to create light in LEDs) with the magnetic properties (i.e.: the ability to create a permanent magnet at room temperature). Combining these properties would enable devices with new functionalities. An example of this would be the ability to manipulate the light emission of a LED by a magnetic field. Consequentely, the focus of the workshops were those topics for which all these properties merge and play a role simultaneously. The workshop brought together leading American and Japanese scientists and engineers who are at the frontiers of the research and development of this area. In the workshop at Nara, more than 40 leading experts and young scientist from the US and Japan presented and discussed the state of the art in the field. The workshop addressed a wide variety of topics ranging from fundamental science, such as the theory of the magnetism in these materials, to novel fabrication methods for these materials, to potential applications. The most recent and exciting breakthroughs such as red LEDs with very high efficiencies and first indication that these LEDs could be controlled magnetically. The program of the workshop was designed to promote cross-pollination of research ideas that will impact science and society. During an interactive panel discussions, a potential test structure was developed, which could validate the basic technology. With the support of a supplement a follow-up workshop was organized at Lehigh University which had 11 participants and was mainly focussed on identifying the most urging questions. The main conclusions from both meetings was the need for a comprehensive summary of the state of the field that could guide further development. As a result, a large group of participants worked together since Summer 2014 to put together a book that will be published in Fall 2015. The book will be edited by I. Ferguson, J. Zavada, and V. Dierolf and will contain 16 chapters and a summary.
