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EECS 529: Semiconductor Lasers and LEDs

Coverage
This course covers advanced and state-of-the-art topics in modern optoelectronic devices including semiconductor lasers, light-emitting diodes (LEDs), photodetectors, solar cells, and optical modulators. Familiarity with the Maxwell’s equations and semiconductor pn junctions at the undergraduate level is assumed.

Textbook(s)
Chuang, Shun Lien. Physics of Photonic Devices. 2nd ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, 2009.

Syllabus

Overview of modern optoelectronic devices and their underlying electron-photon interactions
Basic physical principles governing electron-photon interactions
- Review of electromagnetics, quantum mechanics, and statistical mechanics
- Electrons in free and confined states
- Photons in free and confined states
- Electron-photon interaction in semiconductors, dielectrics, metals and meta-materials
- Phonons
Basic photonic structures
- Optical waveguides
- Optical cavities
- Sub-wavelength structures and meta-materials
Optical absorption
Optical amplification
Design and properties of optoelectronic devices
- Heterostructures
- Light-emitting diodes
- Semiconductor lasers
- Photodetectors and solar cells
- Optical modulators
Fabrication and characterization of optoelectronic devices
- Overview of technology
- Thermal management and failure mechanism