Nanophotonics and Neuroengineering Laboratory

Research Areas:

Neuroengineering/physics:

(a) developing means to record from the brain of primates by employing implantable microelectronically active neural signal probes, with the goal of ‘reading out’ large numbers of individual neurons from different brain microcircuits in real time. Work is under way to develop such neuroengineering tools for (i) neural proscthetic use, and (ii) access different regions of the brain to explore the massively spatially parallel ‘architecture’ of the brain engaged e.g. from sensing to action. Click here for information about ongoing projects.

(b) developing novel optoelectronic devices as bidirectional brain interfaces and employing these devices in combination with so-called optogenetic methods to study brain function both in vivo and in vitro. Our general interests are (i) enhancing our understanding of the brain function from sensing and decision making to behavior, (ii) the implementation of this optoelectronics/optogenetics-based technologies for potentially therapeutic and prosthetic applications. This research is supported by DARPA and NSF. Click here for information about ongoing projects.

(c) developing a dual-function brain implantable microscale chip which combined both “readout” (by electrical or possibly optical means) and “write-in” (by optical and possible electrical injection) modalities for real-time spatio-temporal interaction with neural microcircuits and the external world. Click here for information about ongoing projects.

 

Photonics and NanoMaterials:

(a) employing colloidal quantum dots (CdSe core, and CdS/Zn_0.5Cd_0.5S/ZnS mutishell)  as single photon emitters in practical, electrically excitable devices. The group has an ongoing collaboration QD Vision,a Boston area company,  as well as Prof. V. Bulovic at MIT. Click here for information about ongoing projects.

(b) the broader and more general subject of interfacing organic and inorganic semiconductor  nanoscale structures with interest in (i) excitation and charge transport across interfaces, (ii) light emitting and detecting devices, and (iii) for biosensing as well as for (photoelectric and other) energy conversion. Click here for information about ongoing projects.

 

Ultrasfast Optoacoustics: 

Generation of very short wavelength (ultrashort pulse) acoustic waves by optical means to perform imaging of nanostructures by a new type of “picosecond optoacoustic microscopy”. In the sound frequency range of several tens of GHz, the acoustic wavelength becomes on the order of few tens of nanometers. These conditions are being explored in the development of a new type of nanometer scale optoacoustic microscopy and  applications to imaging of subsurface nanoscale features in materials and device structures of device relevance. This project is in collaboration with Prof. Humphrey Maris Brown who is an expert in phonon physics. Click here for information about ongoing projects.