Research Expertise and Interest

nanoscience, electrical engineering, nanoelectronics

Research Description

Jeffrey Bokor's research group develops the techniques required to integrate these GNRs into electronic devices, enabling us to measure and characterize their electronic response directly through transport and optical spectroscopy. Working directly with chemists and physicists, they are developing new synthesis methods and precursors that improve device performance and yield, while also developing fabrication techniques that enable electrical probing of molecular heterojunctions at the nanometer scale.

Ultrafast All Optical Control of the Magnetization

In 1996 it was discovered that the magnetization of a Ni film could be quenched in less than a picosecond [1]. This triggered the field of ultrafast magnetism, where the main objective is to understand the dynamics of the magnetization in the femtosecond-picosecond scales and ultimately to control it. In 2007 the first all-optically (laser) induced picosecond-switching of the magnetization was achieved in a GdFeCo ferrimagnet [2],[3] (as shown in Fig.1) and has since been reproduced in different systems. However, a good understanding of the underlaying mechanisms is still lacking.

Following up on these exciting experiments and with the goal of shining some light on such open questions, his research group is studying the ultrafast demagnetization and all-optical switching in different systems by the combination of different magneto-optical techniques (MOKE, MSHG…).

[1] E. Beaurepaire et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 1996
[2] C. Stanciu et al., Phys. Rev. Lett 2007
[3] K. Vahaplar et al., Phys. Rev. B 2012

Atomically Precise Graphene Nanoribbon Devices

Chemically synthesized graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) present an attractive alternative to carbon nanotubes as high performance semiconducting channel material. Because of their deterministic growth process, these GNRs possess identical electronic properties en masse and, unlike other GNRs, lack rough edges that potentially reduce mobility and transport.