HYTEC · The physics of hybrid organic-inorganic heterostructures for photonics and telecommunications

Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.

Project objective

The aim of the Network is to study the fundamental physics of 'hybrid' exciton states. Such states will be created by the fabrication of heterostructures based on combinations of organic and inorganic semiconductors, and also nano-structured metallic materials. It has been predicted that hybrid-exciton states will have optical and electronic properties that are very different from the excitations supported by each of the individual components of the heterostructure. We will study exciton-hybridisation in a number of different types of heterostructure. This will give us opportunity to 'tailor' the properties of the hybrid-states, with the aim of designing a new generation of media having applications photonics and telecommunications.The heterostructures that will be studied include(a) strongly-coupled optical micro cavities containing organic and inorganic semiconductors,(b ) organic semiconductors grown on nano-structured metallic surfaces, and( c ) heterostructures composed of epitaxial layers of organic and inorganic semiconductors. In each type of structure, we will study the different physical interaction mechanisms. These range from direct dipole-dipole coupling, to resonant interactions between Frenkel excitons and surface plasmons, to the formation of super-positions of different excitonic states, coherently linked by confined cavity-photons. Such structures will be studied using a variety of linear and non-linear spectroscopies, following excitations over time-scales ranging from cw to ~15 fs. We aim to study a variety of different possible energy-transfer mechanisms between the coupled-exciton states. We also anticipate the creation of hybrid exciton states having very high optical non-linearity. All our experimental studies will be closely integrated with complementary high-level theoretical investigations, modeling the temporal optical properties of hybrid-exciton systems. As well as leading to advances in fundamental science,

Original text from CORDIS.

Participants

• UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD · SHEFFIELDCoordinatorUnited Kingdom
• DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY · DRESDENGermany
• ECOLE NORMALE SUPERIEURE DE CACHAN · CACHANFrance
• FOUNDATION OF RESEARCH AND TECHNOLOGY - HELLAS · IRAKLIONGreece
• IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE · LONDONUnited Kingdom
• LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS UNIVERSITY OF MUNICH · MUENCHENGermany
• SCUOLA NORMALE SUPERIORE DI PISA · PISAItaly

Links

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