Advanced Research

The Centre for Advanced Photonics & Process Analysis (CAPPA) is a research group at the Cork Institute of Technology, with close ties to the Tyndall National Institute – see the About CAPPA section for more. The advanced research conducted by CAPPA spans a range of areas, all of which involve the investigation or application of photonics, i.e. light. Major research strands include non-linear dynamics of lasers and ultrafast laser physics, and the understanding of the dynamics of novel semiconductor materials and devices (for details of our more industry-oriented activities, please see the Innovation For Industry section).

The state-of-the-art research Facilities available in the CAPPA labs include; a Femtosecond Physics Laboratory, a Laser Dynamics Laboratory and a Photoluminescence Spectroscopy Laboratory. (For additional equipment available in CAPPA, see also the Research page in the Innovation for Industry section).

Utilising this infrastructure, CAPPA researchers investigate a number of areas, including;

• Optical injection and other non-linear dynamics of mode-locked lasers
• Ultrafast (femtosecond) processes in semiconductor structures and devices, including gain and refractive index non-linearities
• Photoluminescence dynamics of novel semiconductor materials and devices

Fourier Domain Mode-Locked Laser output (far left) and OCT images of the retina.	Evolution of the gain and phase of a Quantum Dot SOA after pertubation by an ultrafast pulse.	Streak camera image of photoluminescence from a QD tunnel injection structure.

Recent Research Highlights

Nature Communications article on GeSn nanowires

CAPPA researchers Tomasz Ochalski and Dzianis Saladukha were co-authors on a recent article published in Nature Communications. This is based on work done in collaboration with researchers at Tyndall National Institute/University College Cork, SciTech (UK), Bose Institute (India), Northeastern University (USA) and AMBER/CRANN at Trinity College Dublin. The paper discusses the growth of Germanium-Tin alloy nanowires with high Sn concentration, important for the realisation of direct bandgap group-IV materials needed for applications such as tunnel FETs, optical interconnects and group IV photonics. The CAPPA researchers performed photoluminescence studies on the GeSn nanowire samples.

See the full paper here: S. Biswas, J. Doherty, D. Saladukha, Q. Ramasse, D. Majumdar, M. Upmanyu, A. Singha, T. Ochalski, M. A. Morris, and J. D. Holmes, Nature Communications, 7, 11405, (2016).

Research Collaborators

The key collaborative relationship for CAPPA is with the Tyndall National Institute. Apart from the location of facilities there, we collaborate closely with Tyndall researchers in a number of photonic disciplines including materials, fabrication, packaging and systems. CAPPA also collaborates on a national, European and international level with a wide range of partners from various photonic, material and engineering fields. See the Projects page for details of some of the collaborative projects in which CAPPA are involved.