Ming C. Wu (Advisor)

Semiconductor lasers on a silicon platform have attracted much attention due to the potential of integration with CMOS integrated circuits. Silicon Raman lasers have been demonstrated, however, they still require external optical pumps. Heteroepitaxy can grow compound semiconductor lasers directly on Si, but the growth temperature (> 400oC) is usually too high for post CMOS processing. To circumvent this issue, electrically-pumped compound-silicon hybrid lasers have been integrated on Si wafers utilizing oxygen plasma-assisted wafer bonding or DVS-BCB-assisted bonding techniques....

Two-dimensional imaging is limited in that it cannot provide depth perception. One can view objects in the distance, but cannot determine how far away these images are. Three-dimensional imaging, such as RADAR, can accomplish this, but radio wavelengths are too long to provide detailed resolution. LIght Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) uses optical wavelengths, providing easily four orders of magnitude better resolution, allowing the imaging of sub-millimeter detail or better. However, the conventional LIDAR method employs short optical pulses that need high-speed, 2-D photodetection,...

Light-induced dielectrophorsis, or optoelectronic tweezers (OET), provides a dynamic, non-contact, non-invasive optical cell manipulation technique with single cell resolution. OET features a low optical intensity requirement, allowing a large manipulation area for high throughput and preventing potential optical damages. We have designed and fabricated the phototransistor-based OET(Ph-OET) device that enables manipulation of cells in cell culture media. Recently development includes a integrated system for long-term live-cell imaging of mammalian cells with continuous optical...

Solar energy represents one of the most abundant and yet least harvested source of renewable energy. We report a PV structure that incorporates 3D, single crystalline n-CdS nanopillars, embedded in poly- crystalline thin films of p-CdTe, to enable high absorption of light and efficient collection of the carriers. Through experiments and modeling, we demonstrate the potency of this approach for enabling highly versatile solar modules on both rigid and flexible substrates with enhanced carrier collection efficiency arising from the geometric configuration of the NPLs. We performed...