Grant: Research Tools and Instruments - Category 1 (<$150,000)

The current Molecular Beam Epitaxy (MBE) facility at the University of Alberta is part of a multifunctional system purchased by Alberta Centre for Surface Engineering and Science (ACSES) in 2004 as part of a project funded by CFI. Items are requested for the upgrade of the  MBE equipment so that it can be used in the growth of InGaAlAs based material systems for applied quantum device research. Some examples of such research are to develop InAs/GaAs quantum dot saturable absorbers, InAs/GaAs quantum dot lasers and to develop new microchip lasers based on quantum dots embedded in glass and plastic host media.Quantum dot saturable absorbers and lasers will allow the development of ultra-compact tunable sources for the telecommunication and laser sensing applications. Quantum dots are a new and exciting class of nanomaterials (scale size 2-20nm) which are leading to a revolution in the development of engineered light emitting fluorescent tags, saturable absorbers, superluminescent diodes and lasers.  They have advantages of continuously selectable wavelengths from visible to infrared (via material and size selection), broadband tunability around the centre wavelength and are very stable against long-term degradation due to bleaching. The doping of glass and plastic host materials with Quantum dots to fabricate optically pumped microlasers gives much more flexibility in gain medium geometry compared to traditional semiconductor laser geometries and potentially allows for the fabrication of higher power short pulse laser systems.  The open access facility will also benefit many other researchers in materials science, photonics and nanotechnology.