The 'Development of low-cost technologies for the fabrication of high-performance telecommunication lasers' project has two main objectives: (1) Development of high-performance surface-grating-based DFB/DBR telecommunication lasers (2) Development of ultra-high speed directly modulated lasers (> 40 GBit/s) with a simplified multi-section design, which exploit high-order photonic resonances for extending the modulation bandwidth. The project approach is to develop a common technological fabrication platform for both types of lasers based on surface gratings and other surface micro- and nano-structures. One important advantage in using surface structuring for increasing the performances and functionality of edge-emitting lasers is the elimination of the regrowth stage, which adds to the fabrication cost, affects the laser performances (notably the reliability and the characteristics shift in time) and reduces yield. The surface micro- and nano-structures will be imprinted by the low-cost and high-yield nanoimprint lithography, which will contribute to reducing the fabrication cost. The developed surface-oriented technology will be largely independent on the underlying semiconductor structure and will be applied for the fabrication of InP- and GaAs-based edge-emitting lasers (EELs) working in the 1300 and 1550 nm ranges. Although advanced materials (like dilute nitrides and antimony-containing dilute-nitrides) as well as low-dimensional structures (quantum dots and quantum dashes) will be investigated for developing the active regions of the lasers, the surface-oriented technology will be directly applicable to epitaxial layer structures already developed and tested in regular Fabry-Perot telecommunication EELs. Thus the developed surface-oriented approach will have the unique advantage of enabling the fabrication of higher-performance lasers from already tested and qualified 'legacy' epiwafers.

In the past decade, it has become increasingly recognized that low-energy electrons (LEE) play a key role in a large number of fundamental and applied fields. Electrons with energies in the range 0-30 eV can induce, at interfaces and surfaces, specific reactions which are relevant to nanolithography, dielectric aging, radiation waste management, radiation processing, astrochemistry, planetary and atmospheric chemistry, surface photochemistry, radiobiology, and radiotherapy. For more than 30 years, the action of LEE at the surface of molecular and biomolecular solids has been investigated in the laboratory of the applicant with model systems consisting of pure or doped thin molecular films. The purpose of the present application is to develop a research program within the European Union (EU) to investigate systems of relevance to three important applications of LEE processing, namely nanolithography, astrochemsitry and radiotherapy. In particular we plan (1) To investigate LEE-induced reactions of selected molecules on metallic surfaces so as to assess their potential for STM beam lithography. (2) To study the possibility of inducing specific chemical reactions with the photoelectrons. (3)To investigate LEE-induced reactions in ice mantles that simulate both planetary and ISM conditions. (4)To investigate LEE-induced damage to DNA incorporating the radiosensitizers Carboplatin and Gemcitabine with and without added water. (5)To obtain cross sections for DNA damage with and without the presence of these radiosensitizers by analysing the dose to yields relationship during LEE bombardment of DNA. Since the IIF is one of world's leading researchers in such LEE processes it is also intended to exploit his fellowship to provide valuable training and leadership amongst the younger members of the EU LEE community at a time when a new generation of researchers is emerging in the field.

An innovative mechano-chemical approach (based on the high energy ball milling) will be used for the development of innovative nanopolymers to be used in Rapid Manufacturing (RM) based on Selective Laser Sintering (SLS),by: 1.Structural modification (up nanopolymers stage) using a currently widely used polymer like Polyammide PA (a 'nanoPA' will be produced); 2.Alloying (at nanoscale) with different polymers to tune mechanical properties; 3.Nanocharging of polymers (development of nanocomposites). Moving from this background, the project will make a real, LARGE, step up in polymers and composites properties by including nano features into the base materials and the final products. The final products will benefit from radically extended performances (i.e. operating temperatures, increased strength). In this way it will be possible, using existing prototyping machines, to realize freeform manufacturing technologies for the direct automated and customised production of parts and products from small to medium size batches for a wide range of possible applications (from vehicle applications to biomedical devices). The following are the project S/T objectives of SLS materials and parts produced using the modified PA -New nanostructured materials based on Poliammides (PA) -Agglomerated (scale of 20-50 micron) nanophased (scale of 10-20 nm) particles suited for RM via SLS -Properties improvements in materials and RM/SLS parts properties (referred to conventional PA) of more than 200%. -Parts having improved properties and wider application window for automotive sector, consumer goods and medical instrumentation. For these reasons STEPUP responds quite well to the call topics by: introducing new concepts for the micro/nano fabrication (usage of nanoplymers); enabling transition of RM to customised solutions integrating materials design and simulations.

I plan to grow nanometre-sized crystals in confined geometries to examine the strain distributions that result. The crystal growth will employ lithographic processing techniques, made possible by the local expertise in the central clean room facilities of the London Centre for Nanotechnology. My group is world-leading in developing a method called Coherent X-ray Diffraction (CXD). Our CXD strain images of a Pb nanocrystal were published in Nature in 2006. CXD is sensitive to strain because the X-ray diffraction pattern surrounding a Bragg peak can be decomposed into symmetric and antisymmetric parts. To a good approximation, the symmetric part can be considered to come from the real part of the electron density, while the antisymmetric part is a projection of the strain field. The phasing of the data is a critical step that uses a computer algorithm, developed by us, which acts like the lens of a 3D X-ray microscope. CXD works best for nanocrystal sizes between 40nm and 5µm, for crystals strongly attached to substrates and for isolated, fiducialised arrays of crystals that can be cross-referenced with other techniques. To create nanocrystals in this size range, we will use both a bottom-up self-assembly of materials deposited onto templated substrates, designed to introduce strain, and a top-down nanosculpture approach will use lithography techniques to create strain patterns in crystalline materials associated with shapes that are carved into them. The interpretation of the images is the main intellectual output of the project. This will be compared with finite element analysis, and the deviations interpreted as unique properties attributable to the nanoscale. All project participants will work in a design, creation, analysis, interpretation, update cycle that will reveal the new basic principles of nanocrystal structure. In the long run we will transfer CXD technology to Europe: beamline I-13 at Diamond will be ready for CXD in 2011.

Water immersion lithography has been widely accepted as patterning technology for the 45nm technology node, but solutions for the patterning of 32nm and 22nm technology nodes are not clear yet.

Polarimetry is a crucial tool in both fundamental and applied physics, ranging from the measurement of parity nonconservation (PNC) in atoms, to the determination of biomolecule structure, and the probing of interfaces. These measurements tend to be extremely challenging as the change of the polarization of light is usually extremely small; typical differences in polarization states are of the order of 10^-5 to 10^-8. Current experimental techniques often require acquisition times of the order of seconds or, in the case of PNC, even many days, limiting the possibilities of time-resolved measurements. Here, I propose to develop optical-cavity-based techniques which will enhance measurements of the polarization sensitivity and/or the time-resolution by 3-6 orders of magnitude. Preliminary data from prototypes and feasibility studies are presented. I propose to demonstrate how these breakthroughs will revolutionize polarimetry, by addressing some of the most important multidisciplinary problems in fundamental physics, biophysics, and material science: a) Testing the limits of the Standard Model with atomic PNC measurements. Current PNC experiments, and more importantly theory, for cesium atoms are limited to precision of about 0.5%. The novel and robust experimental technique I am proposing here affords 4 orders-of-magnitude higher sensitivity, thus giving access to lighter atoms, where the theory can be better than 0.1%, for the most stringent test of the Standard Model, while seeking new physics. b) The measurement of protein folding dynamics. Highly sensitive time-resolved spectroscopic ellipsometry, providing novel dynamical information on protein folding: nanosecond resolved, position measurements of functional groups of surface proteins, which map out the time-dependent protein structure. c) Determination of thin film thickness and surface density with nanosecond resolution, for the study of processes such as laser ablation and polymer growth.

New magneto-transport phenomena have been discovered in magnetic multilayers and are now being optimized for industrial applications, extending the conventional electronics with new functionality. However, most of the current research on magnetic multilayer materials and its device applications rely on conventional equilibrium electron transport. The full potential of nano-structuring, which leads to a broad spectrum of novel non-equilibrium transport phenomena, is therefore not realized. In this research project we will focus on practically unexplored functional principles that can be implemented in nanostructures produced by state-of-the-art lithography and surface manipulation techniques. Our main idea is to use electrically controlled spin currents in highly non-equilibrium regimes with respect to energy and temperature; hence “spin-thermo-electronics”. The large amount of heat generated in nanoscale devices is today one of the most fundamental obstacles for reducing the size of electronics. In this proposal we turn the problem around by instead using electrically controlled local heating of magnetic nano-circuits to achieve fundamentally new functionality, relevant to several key objectives of the information and communication technology. Particular emphasis will be put on investigating and technologically evaluating the interplay of spin, charge, and heat in magnetic structures of sub-10 nm dimensions. Such structures, although inaccessible by today’s lithographic means, are in our view crucial for further miniaturization of electronic devices.

The investigation of the transport properties of nanoscaled objects is a strongly expanding field of nowadays solid-state physics, it attracts increasing attention either in applied science due to the potential in future applications or in basics research due to exciting quantum effects on the nanoscale. Semiconducting nanowires (NW) are single crystals with a typical diameter of 10-100nm and length of 5-10microm. Fabricating metallic leads to NWs, devices can be produced, where the electron density can be strongly varied by gates and the transport can be explored from the quasi-ballistic to the quantum dot regime. Due to their exceptional properties (e.g. band structure engineering, possibility to contact them with ferromagnetic (F), superconducting (S) leads, local gating), NW based devices open a new horizon in quantum transport. In order to be competitive in the field of experimental quantum electronics, it is essential to own sample fabrication facilities, which has not been available in the host institute. The main aim of this proposal is to set up the environment of device fabrication, which will be based on a Jeol scanning electron microscope equipped with lithography unit. The applicant will fabricate and investigate the low temperature transport properties of InAs NW based devices focusing mainly on spin injection from ferromagnetic leads and on F-S hybrid nanostructures. The fabrication facility will also support other ongoing quantum electronic projects.

Three-dimensional large area metamaterials, especially Negative Index Materials (NIMs) promise to enable numerous novel and breakthrough applications like perfect lenses and cloaking devices, not only but especially if they exhibit the desired properties in the visible frequency range. For the European Photonics industry it is of paramount importance enabling fabricating such materials as soon as possible, to maintain its important position in the areas of optical components and systems as well as production technologies. Till now such materials have not been produced, yet - neither in 3D nor on large areas, let alone both combined. The aim of NIM_NIL is the development of a production process for 3D NIMs in the visible regime combining UV-based Nanoimprint Lithography (UV-NIL) on wafer scale using the new material graphene and innovative geometrical designs. This project will go beyond state-of-the-art in three important topics regarding NIMs: the design, the fabrication using Nanoimprintlithography (NIL) and the optical characterization by ellipsometry. New designs and the new material Graphene will be investigated to extend the existing frequency limit of 900 nm into the visible regime. The fabrication method of choice is UV-NIL since it allows cost efficient large area nanostructuring, which is indispensible if materials like NIMs should be produced on large scale. The negative refraction will be measured using ellipsometry which is a fast and non-destructive method to control the fabrication process. At the end of the project a micro-optical prism made from NIM will be fabricated to directly verify and demonstrate the negative refractive index. Each aspect of innovation within NIM_NIL -design, fabrication and characterisation of NIMs -is represented by experts in this field resulting in a multidisciplinary highly motivated consortium containing participants from basic research as well as industrial endusers from whole Europe.

ROOTHz project addresses the bottleneck of Terahertz Science and Technology, where the fabrica-tion of room temperature, continuous wave, compact, tunable and powerful sources (at low cost, if possible) is the prime challenge. THz radiation (also called T-rays), whose frequency range lies between microwaves and infrared light in the electromagnetic spectrum, opens the possibility for a new imaging and spectroscopic technology with a broad range of applications, from medical diagnostic (without the damage pro-duced by ionizing radiation such as X-rays), industrial quality control or security-screening tools. T rays sources must be obtained at the limits of electronics from one side and optical systems from the other, resulting in a lack of efficient and practical radiation sources. In ROOTHz we propose to exploit THz Gunn oscillations in novel (narrow and wide bandgap) semiconductor nanodevices, which have been predicted by simulations but not experimentally confirmed yet. We aim at the fabrication not only of solid state emitters but also detectors at THz frequencies by exploiting the properties of both wide and narrow bandgap semiconductors and the advantages pro-vided by the use of novel device architectures such as slot-diodes and rectifying nano diodes (nano-channels with broken symmetry so called self-switching diodes, SSDs). The simplicity of the tech-nological process used for the fabrication of these diodes is remarkable, since it only involves the etching of insulating trenches or recess lines on a semiconductor surface (a single step of high reso-lution lithography). Furthermore, their particular geometry allows providing Gunn oscillations overcoming the classical frequency limit (around 300GHz). The fabrication of THz detectors with the same technology will complement this objective and allow the demonstration of a simple THz detection/emission subsystem at the conclusion of the project.