Lew Yan Voon This CAREER award establishes a semiconductor research program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute which also incorporates a number of education activities. The research objective of this grant is to carry out new evelopments in the fundamentals of empirical band-structure theory and implement them on the computer. An example is an exact envelope-function theory of quantum wells and laterally composition-modulated structures. The methodology will involve the study of a number of electronic and optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures which are either still controversial or which cannot be fully explained by all currently available empirical band-structure models. Examples include birefringence and selection rules for light absorption in semiconductor quantum wells, and quantum dot and short period superlattice band structures. The solutions lie in the development and implementation of fundamentally, as opposed to numerically, improved band-structure models. A key aspect of the proposed research is to compare and contrast a number of different empirical techniques (tight binding, effective mass, empirical pseudopotential) and identify and develop extensions relevant to the physical properties to be explored. Most of the studies will benefit from direct collaborations with various experimental groups at universities and national laboratories in the USA and abroad.
Integrated with this research is an educational plan which will serve as a model for a new approach to solid state physics pedagogy. This involves applying research philosophy to both undergraduate and graduate classrooms, where case studies and, for undergraduates, peer instruction will be used. In addition, a new interdisciplinary course, Quantum Engineering, will be developed with a focus on nanostructured devices. One objective is to train "classical" engineers to think "quantum." Finally, there will be an education outreach program for high school students. %%% This CAREER award establishes a semiconductor research program at Worcester Polytechnic Institute which also incorporates a number of education activities. The research objective of this grant is to carry out new evelopments in the fundamentals of empirical band-structure theory and implement them on the computer. An example is an exact envelope-function theory of quantum wells and laterally composition-modulated structures. The methodology will involve the study of a number of electronic and optical properties of semiconductor nanostructures which are either still controversial or which cannot be fully explained by all currently available empirical band-structure models. Examples include birefringence and selection rules for light absorption in semiconductor quantum wells, and quantum dot and short period superlattice band structures. The solutions lie in the development and implementation of fundamentally, as opposed to numerically, improved band-structure models. A key aspect of the proposed research is to compare and contrast a number of different empirical techniques (tight binding, effective mass, empirical pseudopotential) and identify and develop extensions relevant to the physical properties to be explored. Most of the studies will benefit from direct collaborations with various experimental groups at universities and national laboratories in the USA and abroad.
Integrated with this research is an educational plan which will serve as a model for a new approach to solid state physics pedagogy. This involves applying research philosophy to both undergraduate and graduate classrooms, where case studies and, for undergraduates, peer instruction will be used. In addition, a new interdisciplinary course, Quantum Engineering, will be developed with a focus on nanostructured devices. One objective is to train "classical" engineers to think "quantum." Finally, there will be an education outreach program for high school students. ***
