Center for NanoPhotonics (NanoPhoton)

Behind the computers, networks, and mobile devices that pervade our modern society stand two enabling technologies: photonics and electronics. Due to the vastly different size of a photon and an electron and their inherently weak mutual interaction, photonics and electronics are in practice entirely different and largely incompatible technologies. An important research frontier concerns the interface between photonics and electronics.

The overall goal of the Center for Nanophotonics (NanoPhoton) is to perform fundamental research on light-matter interaction in semiconductor nanostructures and to apply this to realize a new generation of nanophotonic devices. In particular, NanoPhoton aims to solve fundamental challenges in chipscale information technology enabled by extreme confinement of light, as well as realizing extreme nonlinearities facilitating few-photon interactions. NanoPhoton addresses open research questions such as: How small can a photon be? How much can light-matter interaction be enhanced? Can nanolasers and nanophotodetectors be integrated with electronic transistors? Can optical nonlinearities become so strong that they work at the level of a single photon? These fundamental questions and challenges are addressed in a multi-disciplinary effort that encompasses developing novel methods for semiconductor nanofabrication, conceiving radically new device concepts, building new theoretical models for extreme light-matter interaction in nanostructures, as well as advancing state-of-the-art measurement techniques. It is the ambition of NanoPhoton to deliver research breakthroughs with profound impact on next-generation information technology.