9502888 Menoni A four year career development program that combines a research plan in the technological important area of blue semiconductor lasers and educational activities centered in the development of a freshmen course "Introduction to Electrical Engineering" designed to motivate students early on in their career, is proposed. A research plan is proposed to study the optical and electronic properties of the II-VI quaternary ZnMgSSe which have significant potential for the development of short wavelength semiconductor lasers. Short wavelength semiconductor lasers will greatly impact high density optical memories, laser printing and other important technological applications, whose capabilities are presently limited by the use of infrared laser sources. Blue-green laser have been demonstrated. However, their output characteristics are still far from being ideal for most of these applications. Improved characteristics will arise from a detailed understanding of the material properties and device structure dependent processes which control the laser operation. I propose to study carrier confinement, the mechanisms of carrier capture and escape and recombination in ZnMgSSe MQWs. The results of these studies will be first applied to the development of edge emitting lasers which will be characterized from threshold current and gain and loss measurements. The knowledge gained in the study of edge emitters will be applied to the design of vertical cavity surface emitting lasers. The main focus of the proposed educational activities lie in the development of a freshmen course "Introduction to Electrical Engineering." This course is designed to captivate the interest of the students into the different areas of Electrical Engineering at an early stage on their career, and thus reduce the drop-out rate. I also envision this class as an avenue to teach them different tools they will use throughout their career and to show them how fun and challenging this pr ofession can be. ***
