Research Projects

This project aims to demonstrate room-temperature, energy-efficient polariton electroluminescence from two-dimensional (2D) semiconductors and design methods for enhancing their internal quantum efficiencies (IQE) by incorporating metal nanostructures. The resulting 2D Semiconductor-Metal hybrid structures will be analyzed and modified to explore the feasibility of simple on-chip, room-temperature, electrically-pumped, polariton Lasers, which can be used for applications like intra-chip optical interconnects. Polariton electroluminescence is a composite particle that emits light due to a composite particle known as polariton, which is partly light, partly matter, and has a bosonic nature. This opens the possibility of inversion-less, low-threshold on-chip lasers. The formation of polaritons relies on the presence of stable coulomb-bound electron-hole pairs called excitons, which are stable even at room temperature due to reduced dielectric screening. 2D-TMDs show strong light-matter interaction, which can be further enhanced with the use of metal nanostructures in their vicinity. The project will first develop theoretical understanding of polariton LEDs, then scrutinize different semiconductors, metals, and device architectures for the design of easy-to-fabricate, efficient room-temperature polariton LEDs. The optimized devices will be fabricated and characterized using an in-house optoelectronic characterization setup, which will be used to study the emission properties of the devices. These devices will be further modified to explore the feasibility of on-chip, room-temperature, electrically-pumped, polariton Lasers for next-generation optoelectronic integrated circuits for applications like intra-chip optical interconnects and imaging.