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The Micro- & Nano-photonics Research Group at OSU was founded in 2011, focusing on the design, fabrication and characterization of various micro- and nano-scale photonic devices for optical communication and optical sensing. As the Principal Investigator, Dr. Alan Wang has developed highly competitive research programs with innovations in both fundamental sciences and high potentials for various engineering applications. Our goal is to develop next-generation optical devices for energy-efficient and high-bandwidth optical communication systems, and to explore ultra-sensitive optical sensors for healthcare, energy conservation, and environmental protection. Our research activities have been sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institute of Health (NIH),  Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute (ONAMI), the National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) of the Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and industrial sponsors such as Hewlett Packard, and Marine Polymer Technologies.

Research Areas:1. Nano-photonic devices based on photonic crystals and surface plasmonics2. Optical interconnects for board-to-board and chip-to-chip3. Optical sensors using surface-enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) and infrared absorption4. Nonlinear optical devices using state-of-the-art polymer materials: electro-optic modulators

and all-optical switching5. RF photonic devices

Biography:Alan Wang received his B.S. degree from Tsinghua University, and M.S. degree from the Institute of Semiconductors, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, P.R. China, in 2000 and 2003, respectively, and his Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin in 2006. From January 2007 to August 2011, he was with Omega Optics, Inc., Austin, Texas, where he served as the Chief Research Scientist with more than 4 million dollars of research grants from various government agencies, including National Science Foundation (NSF), Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), Army Research Office (ARO), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and National Institute of Health (NIH). Since September 2011, he has been an assistant professor at Oregon State University in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.He has more than eighty journal and conference publications, including eight invited and plenary presentations. In 2006, his work on reducing the cross talk of polymer optical switch was reported as the Breaking News of Lightwave Europe, and his contribution of efficient optical coupling into slow light photonic waveguide was reported as World News by Laser Focus World in December 2010.  He holds three U.S. patents.

Last update on 11/15/2014

Research

NSF BRIGE (9.2013-9.2015): Surface-Normal Plasmonic Modulator for Three-Dimensional Board-to-Board and Chip-to-Chip Optical InterconnectsThe objective of this project is to investigate a surface-normal plasmonic modulator with ultra-high energy efficiency and modulation bandwidth for three-dimensional (3-D) optical interconnects using sub-wavelength metallic photonic crystals. The proposed metallic photonic crystal device possesses an asymmetric Fano-resonance that can achieve a sharp transitional edge for energy-efficient electro-optic (E-O) modulation and ultrahigh modulation speed.

Air Force SBIR Phase I with Voxtel, Inc. (5.2014-1.2015): High Index of Refraction Materials for Printed ApplicationsThe objective of this project is to develop integrated waveguide devices using the high refractive index inks developed by Voxtel, Inc.

NIH STTR Phase II with Omega Optics, Inc. (8.2013-8.2015): Resonant-Photonic-Device-Enhanced SERS Substrate with Pinpointed Plasmonic-Active NanotubesThe use of Surface Enhanced Raman Scattering (SERS) for biomolecule detection has been restricted due to the great difficulty of fabricating ultrasensitive and reproducible surface-plasmonic-resonance (SPR) substrates. Therefore, detecting extremely small amount of biomolecules for clinical application is significantly limited. In this STTR Phase II research, we are developing ultrasensitive SERS substrates with universally available Raman “hot spots” for well-reproducible biomolecule detection by combining optical field enhancements from both resonant photonic devices and metallic nanoentities. We use highly robust guided-mode-resonance (GMR) gratings to achieve strongly localized optical field for SERS sensing.

Bioenabled Nanophotonic Sensors for Biomolecule Detection and Food Safety ---funded by Marine Polymer Technologies, Inc & Various other sponsorsThe objective of this research is to explore a new type of bioenabled nanophotonic sensors with ultra-high detection sensitivity, specificity, and rapid response time for biomolecule detection. In recent years, rationally designed nanophotonic sensors such as ring resonators, photonic crystals, surface plasmons, and metamaterials have gained tremendous amount of research interests. However, many of these rationally designed nanophotonic sensors reply on cost-prohibitive top-down nanofabrication techniques, which significantly limit the usage for personal diagnostics and point-of-care applications. The proposed research will adopt a bioenabled nanophotonic structure by bottom-up integration of plasmonic (gold or silver) nanoparticles into diatom biosilica. Diatoms are a group of single-celled photosynthetic algae that use biochemical pathways to bio-mineralize and self-assemble amorphous silica structures with exquisite two- and three-dimensional photonic crystal-like structures that can be readily scaled up for large-volume production with low cost. This research will promote in-depth understanding of the truly interdisciplinary bioenabled plasmonic-biosilica nanostructures.

Near-Infrared Absorption Gas Sensors using Plasmonics-Enhanced Metal-Organic Framework Materials --- Funded by NETLLow-cost and highly sensitive gas sensors play pivotal roles in many applications. In this program, we developed near-infrared (NIR) absorption gas sensors using plasmonics-enhanced metal-organic framework materials. Two sensor structures, thin-film waveguide and optical fiber based evanescent wave absorption sensors are developed that can be used for in-situ monitoring of CO2 and other gases.

NSF SNM (12.2014-12.2018): Continuous Manufacturing of Large-area Nanostructured Thin-films via Model-based Design, In-situ Synthesis and Flash-Light Sintering of Nanoparticle InksThe objective of this proposal is to investigate the fundamental multiscale and multiphysical phenomena underlying a transformational and highly-scalable Nanoparticle-ink (NP-ink) sintering process, i.e., Flash-Light-Sintering (FLS). The new knowledge thus created will guide the creation of novel, scalable processes that combine FLS with equally scalable Microreactor-Assisted Nanoparticle Synthesis (MANS) and Roll-to-Roll (R2R) NP-ink deposition. These advanced processes will possess unmatched capabilities for low-cost, high-throughput, multimaterials capable manufacturing of patterned and continuous thin-films with controlled nanoscale density over large-area flexible substrates. Such thin-films are at the core of devices poised to have a disruptive societal impact, if only scalable manufacturing can be enabled.

HP-Sponsored Research (6.2012-7.2014): Measuring Ink-jet Printed Liquid Diffusion in Porous Medium by Optical Scattering Method --- funded by HP

HP-Sponsored Research (9.2013-9.2014): Measuring the Thermal Diffusion of Amorphous Metals by Thermal Reflectance

Remove the black columns of the logos of the sponsorsCurrent Collaborator:add Rajiv Malhotra

Publications

Correct the error symbols

Add link to the MDPI paper

Correct the link to F. Ren Optics Express 2014 paper

Facilities

Photonic Design and Simulation: Rsoft V8.3RC5 design suite including BeamProp, Fullwave, Bandsolver, ModeProp, Diffract-

Mod and FemSim, which can provide accurate design and simulation for photonic integrated circuit devices

Comsol 4.3b for wave optics and RF& microwave simulation RF and microwave design software: Ansys HFSS V15 Synopsis Medici for semiconductor device simulation (Materials and Devices Group) Other design software accessed through the School of EECS and the College of

Engineering includes: Solidworks, Cadence and Matlab. Advanced simulation workstation HP Z400 with Xeon quad-core micro-processor and 24GB

memory, which can provide enormous computation power

Fig.1 Simulation tools in the PI’s lab for integrated nanophotonic devices

Fabrication Facilities: The Owen Cleanroom at OSU has campus-shared photolithography facilities and thin-film

deposition systems, including direct write laser lithography [Fig.2 (a)] and contacting photolithography to create micro- and nano- scale devices. Other commonly used fabrication facilities, such as electron beam metal sputtering [Fig.2 (b)], thermal evaporation, and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) system are also available. Particular, we recently acquired an Oxford Plasmalab System100 ICP380 [Fig. 2 (c)] for metal etching through the sponsorship of Murdock Foundation.

The Electron Microscopy Facility (EMF) provides advanced electron microscopy instrumentation services to OSU research communities. The facilities include FEI TITAN 80-200 TEM/STEM with ChemiSTEM Technology, FEI QUANTA 3D dual beam SEM-Ebeam lithography/FIB [Fig.2 (d)], FEI NOVA NanoSEM 230 high resolution SEM, and Leica DM 5000 computerized fluorescence optical microscope

The REL 4800 Probe station with thermal control [Fig.2 (e)]

Fig.2 Some fabrication facilities for nanophotonic

Device Characterization Facilities in Dr. Wang’s Research Lab: Lab space: three optical characterization labs (Dearborn 206, Dearborn 302A, Owen 333)

with more than 1,500 square feet; one shared wet-chemical lab (Dearborn 302) with more than 1,200 square feet

Optical Testing Tables • Three large (10’×4’) floating optical tables with vibration isolation• Four floating optical breadboard tables (5’×3’)

Optical Coupling System• Thorlabs APT NanoTrak Auto-alignment Controller [Fig. 3 (a)]• Thorlabs Max311D 3-Axis NanoMax Stage, Closed-Loop Piezos [Fig.3 (b)]• Surface-normal optical coupling system for grating coupler or nanoantennas [Fig.3 (c)]• Multiple Thorlabs and Newport 3-axis, 4-axis, and 5-axis alignment stages

High-Speed Optoelectronic Characterization• Agilent 86100A digital communication analyzer with 86109A optoelectronic module

(30GHz optical and 40GHz electrical bandwidth) [Fig. 3(d)]• HP 8510C Network Analyzer (45 MHz- 50 GHz) (shared facility at Microwave Lab)• 10GHz LiNbO3 intensity modulator• Thorlabs 818-BB-35 12.5GHz photodetector & APD310 high gain detector

Laser & Light Sources: • Carlmar femtosecond pulsed fiber laser: 0.1ps pulse, 20mW [Fig. 3(e)]• HP 8168A tunable laser [Fig. 3 (f)]• Newport 2010M tunable DFB laser: 1.48-1.62 μm• Newport 5-channel DWDM laser array at C-band• Thorlabs broadband IR ASE diode laser: 1.5-1.6 μm• NKT super-K compact light source (400-2400nm wavelength) [Fig.3 (g)]• Thorlab S9FC1004P semiconductor optical amplifier • Two Mellis-Griot HeNe lasers: 632.8 nm, 5mW• SDL CW high power CW fiber laser: 1112nm, 10W• LSI DLM-220 dye laser: 514nm, 3ns pulse• Three Nd:YAG lasers: 1064 nm and 512 nm, 10W• Avantes white light source: vis-IR• Intralux fiber optic illuminator• Various semiconductor laser diodes and LEDs

Photodetectors and power meters:• VIC silicon photomultiplier• Two Thorlab InGaAs fixed gain photodetectors

• Thorlab BP209-IR beam profiler (900-1700nm)• Newport PMKIT power meter: 0.1nm-2W• Thorlab fiber-optic power meter: 800-1700nm• Thorlab USB PM100 power and energy meter with Si and Ge detectors

Optical spectroscopy equipment:• Thorlab OSA203 Optical spectrum analyzer (1.0-2.6μm) [Fig. 3 (h)]• Ando AQ6317B optical spectrum analyzer (0.4-1.7 μm)• HP70951 optical spectrum analyzer (0.6-1.7 μm) • Ocean-optics USB2000 UV-VIS spectrum analyzer• Three Chromex scanning monochromators

Electronic equipment:• Three Princeton Applied Research lock-in amplifier, and one Stanford Research

amplifiers up to 250MHz [Fig. 3 (i)]• Fluke 1GHz function generator, multiplex Tektronix function generators• Three Tektronix digital oscilloscopes• Dual channel Wavetek synthesized arbitrary waveform generator• Standford Research 4-channel pulse and delay generator• 1500V voltage supply

Misc. equipment: Various fiber splitters, Thorlabs PCFFB1550Bench Fiber-optic polarizers [Fig.3 (j)], attenuators, and isolators, Fabry-Perot interferometer

Fig.3 Optical Characterization equipment for nanophotonic devices

People

Visiting Professor

Kyoung-Youm Kim received his Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea, in 2002, and joined the Telecommunication R&D Center of Samsung Electronics Company, Korea, where he was engaged in the development of optical components for mobile handsets including backlighting modules and mobile health sensors. Since 2007, he has been a faculty member of the Department of Optical Engineering, Sejong University, Seoul, Korea. His research interest is in nano-optics including plasmonics, optical metamaterials, and light-matter interactions in nano-size semiconductor devices. 

Graduate students:

Add Roger Tsai and Yuting Xi

Chung-Nan(Roger) Tsai:B.S. in Electrical Engineering, National Taipei University of Technology, Taiwan (2007).  M.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama (2012). His past research experiences include synthesizing and characterizing nanomaterials and investigating their applications. His current research is focused on innovative nanophotonic device structures.  

Yuting Xi: M.S. CandidateYuting Xi obtained his dual B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science at Dalian Jiaotong University, China. He is currently working on ultra-sensitive detection of biomolecules using plasmonic sensors.

Formal Group Members:

Add:

Jing Yang: Postdoctoral Scholar, 2013-2014 

Xiangyu Wang: Master, graduated in April 2014

Openings

We are looking for highly motivated graduate students, undergraduate students, postdoctoral scholars, and visiting scholars to join our research group.

Postdoctoral Scholar Opening: Coming soon

Ph.D. students openings: one opening available. Requirement: Good theoretical background in photonics: waveguides, fiber-optic devices,

optical sensors Cleanroom experiences preferred Familiar with numerical simulation tools such as Comsol and Rsoft

Undergraduate research assistants: multiple openings available

International exchange students and visiting scholars: sponsorships available Please send emails to Dr. Wang directly with resumes or CVs: wang@eecs.oregonstate.edu

Group BlogAdd:Our research in diatom-based optical sensors has been reported by many media in the year of 2014:http://eecs.oregonstate.edu/intricate-algae-produce-low-cost-biosensorshttp://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2014/aug/intricate-algae-produce-low-cost-biosensorshttp://www.algaeindustrymagazine.com/osu-researchers-combine-diatoms-nanoparticles/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+AlgaeIndustryMagazine+%28Algae+Industry+Magazine%29http://www.kurzweilai.net/new-low-cost-ultra-sensitive-biosensor-uses-diatoms-and-nanoparticles?utm_source=KurzweilAI+Daily+Newsletter&utm_campaign=8af50acfeb-UA-946742-1&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_6de721fb33-8af50acfeb-281957289

08/2014: Dr. Wang’s group received the NSF Scalable Nanomanufacturing grants together with Dr. Chih-Hung Chang, Dr. Rajiv Malhotra, and Dr. Gregory Herman

09-16-2014: Dr. Wang gave a poster presentation at Oregon Bio2014 at Portland