Project Title: 2D liquid composites for integrated optoelectronic devices on Si
Length of Award: 4 years from September 2015
Value: Tuition fee, and stipend £13,863 (UK and EU students)
Tuition fee only (non-EU students).
Supervisors: Dr Anna Baldycheva and Dr. Monica Craciun

Project Overview:

The PhD student will have the opportunity to do an international level research focused on the design, fabrication and characterization of the first graphene liquid crystal (GLC) microfluidic metamaterials as well as of plasmonic structures and devices integrated on Si platform. This project will focus on the development and investigation of the novel class of 2D material based liquid crystal composites and their application in the integrated hybrid micro-electronic and micro-photonic devices and systems on Si platform. GLC materials [Nature Materials 13, 394 (2014)] may become one of the most promising class of hybrid fluid composites for the fabrication of metamaterials and for the realization of on-chip tunable metadevices. The unique electrical, optical and magnetic properties of GLC materials arise from the combination of the outstanding properties of graphene and the liquid crystal’s fluidic nature and electro-optical characteristics. However, the research studies on the application of optically- and electrically- reconfigurable GLC as hybrid metamaterials are very limited. In particularly, to the best of our knowledge, the application of GLC composites in passive or active metadevices on the integrated Si platform was not demonstrated in theory or experiment. This makes the research topic of the PhD project to be truly unique.

Eligibility:

Funding is available for well-qualified UK or EU students: Tuition fee, and stipend (£13,863 in 2014-15). Non-EU students are encouraged to apply but will need to secure their own funding.

Application Details:

Please, send your academic CV to Dr. Anna Baldycheva a.baldycheva<στο>exeter.ac.uk or Dr. Monica Craciun M.F.Craciun<στο>exeter.ac.uk before December 21st, 2014.