Quantum Electronics
Quantum Electronics is devoted to the study, design and development of optoelectronic devices that rely on the physics of the very small – quantum mechanics – to operate. Many examples of such devices, including semiconductor laser diodes, are cornerstones of applications that touch our everyday lives including CD and DVD players, and optical fibre communications without which the internet would not exist.
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The group is a world leader in the area of the theory, modelling and simulation of infrared and terahertz quantum optoelectronic devices including quantum cascade lasers, quantum well infrared photodetectors and quantum dot infrared photodetectors. Our specialisms include semiconductor band structure or electronic structure calculations using effective mass, k.p and pseudopotential theory applied to bulk, quantum wells, wires and dots; electron and hole scattering rate calculations; thermal modelling; magneto-optical modelling; transport simulations and Monte Carlo modelling of electron and phonon transport. |
Atomic structure of a quantum dot |
An illustration of the columnar phase formed by a triphenylene discogen |
Through collaborations within the Institute with experimentalists we have the facilities to complete the entire design and fabrication cycle, including an 80 processor parallel computer used for the quantum mechanical calculations for design; molecular beam epitaxy for the production of the nanometer-thick layered semiconductor structures; a nanotechnology cleanroom for the fabrication of the devices and a Terahertz Photonics laboratory for the electrical and optical characterisation and evaluation of the finished product. |
Recent highlights include:
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