Lev Deych, Assistant Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center and Queens College, is conducting research in the area of optical properties of multiple quantum wells. These are artificial structures, which consist of very thin layers of one semiconductor material separated by thicker layers of another semiconductor material. Dr. Deych's research is concentrated on the electro-optical properties of such structures. The main objective of the research is to study opportunities to use these structures as tunable mirrors for optical microcavities. This research won support from the Air Force Research Office.
This is theoretical research with a strong applied component. While several problems related to the fundamental physics of multiple quantum wells (such as a theory of multiple quantum well quantum confined Stark effect, or the effect of disorder on optical properties of multiple quantum wells) will be solved in the course of this project, the main emphasis will be given to the theoretical analysis of technological characteristics of potential devices based upon structures under consideration. This research will be conducted in collaboration with European experimental and theoretical groups, including Professor Ivchenko from Ioffe Institute, St. Petersburg, Russia.
Alex Lisyansky, Professor of Physics at The Graduate Center and Queens College, has concentrated his research interests in the following areas of condensed matter theoretical physics: polariton optics of quantum heterostructures, polariton propagation and localization in impure crystals, localization properties of disordered systems, wave propagation in random materials, and critical phenomena at phase transitions.
Recently, Professors Deych and Lisyansky discovered that electromagnetic waves that propagate in crystals in the form of polaritons can give rise to states localized on impurities. This means that if such a state is excited, the electromagnetic oscillations do not propagate through the crystal but occupy some region around an impurity for a long time.