PHOTO : Artificial materials for photonics and photovoltaics

Recent and future generation of monolithically-integrated devices and innovative components for optical systems heavily rely on the use of novel materials whose properties can be tailored to meet the ever-demanding criteria in terms of performance or energetic efficiency.

In that context, dielectrics, semiconductors and metals that can be deposited in thin films or whose shape can be engineered at the nanometric scale offer capabilities and opportunities that can not be met by bulk materials and as a result leads us to investigate such materials. In particular, part of our research is devoted to the study of new III-V semiconductor alloys, namely AlGaAsBi, to investigations of AlGaAs quantum wells growth on GaAs substrates with unconventional orientation for spintronic applications, and draw out the benefits of such materials down to devices being for photovoltaics or lasers (VCSELs or EELs). Additionnally, we also have an interest in using plasmonic effects at metal/dielectric interfaces since these structures enable extreme optical confinement which, in turn, permits the enhancement of their absorptive or luminescent properties. Finally, we are investigating phase-change materials for their ability to introduce efficient active or passive switching in photonic devices.