Research

UCSB Nanofabrication Facility — Research Groups & Publications

A curated directory of research groups utilizing the UCSB Nanofab, organized by discipline. Each section highlights recent high-impact publications and representative research imagery.

Last updated: April 2026

Photonics and Integrated Optics

Silicon photonics, III-V integration, optical communications, nanophotonic devices, and metasurfaces — enabling next-generation data links, sensing, and on-chip light manipulation.

Optical Communications & Photonic Integration Group — Prof. Daniel Blumenthal

PI: Prof. Daniel Blumenthal (Google Scholar) • Group Website Develops ultra-low-loss silicon nitride (Si3N4) photonic integrated circuits for stimulated Brillouin lasers, optical gyroscopes, optical frequency synthesis, and emerging atom-photonic quantum integration on chip. Selected Recent Publications: Integrated optical frequency division for microwave and mmWave generation — Nature 627, 540–545 (2024). DOI Integrated photonic molecule Brillouin laser with a high-power sub-100-mHz fundamental linewidth — Optics Letters 49(1), 45–48 (2024). DOI

Ultra-low-loss silicon nitride photonic coil resonator chip used for Brillouin lasers and high-Q resonators. PZT-integrated silicon nitride microcomb resonator for chip-based optical frequency division.

Silicon Photonics, AIM Photonics & Institute for Energy Efficiency — Prof. John Bowers

PI: Prof. John Bowers (Google Scholar) • Silicon Photonics • AIM Photonics • IEE Leads research on heterogeneous integration of III-V materials on silicon for lasers, amplifiers, and modulators, as well as advanced silicon photonic platforms for datacom, telecom, and ultra-narrow-linewidth laser sources. Selected Recent Publications: Roadmapping the next generation of silicon photonics — Nature Communications 15, 751 (2024). DOI Lithium niobate photonics: Unlocking the electromagnetic spectrum — Science 379(6627) (2023). DOI

3D photonic integrated circuit: heterogeneous III-V on silicon architecture without an isolator (Nature, 2023). Novel conjoined racetrack resonator geometry for silicon photonics.

Integrated Photonics Laboratory — Prof. Jonathan Klamkin

PI: Prof. Jonathan Klamkin (Google Scholar) • Group Website Specializes in III-V photonic integrated circuits for free-space optical communications, LiDAR, microwave photonics, and monolithic integration of III-V quantum dot lasers on silicon via selective area heteroepitaxy. Selected Recent Publications: Selective area heteroepitaxy of low dislocation density antiphase boundary free GaAs microridges on flat-bottom (001) Si for integrated silicon photonics — Applied Physics Letters 118, 122106 (2021). DOI Towards fully monolithic silicon-based integrated photonics: MOCVD grown lasers on silicon by blanket and selective area heteroepitaxy — Proc. SPIE (Photonics West, 2022). DOI

3D hybrid integrated silicon photonics platform merging InP and GaAs devices with SiPh. Laser communication terminal for free-space optical links (NASA-funded research).

Schow Lab — Prof. Clint Schow

PI: Prof. Clint Schow (Google Scholar) • Group Website Develops energy-efficient optical interconnects for data centers, with emphasis on analog coherent detection architectures that eliminate power-hungry DSP, leveraging silicon photonics and co-packaged optics. Selected Recent Publications: A Monolithic O-Band Coherent Optical Receiver for Energy-Efficient Links — IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits 59(5) (2024). DOI Analog Coherent Detection for Energy Efficient Intra-Data Center Links at 200 Gbps Per Wavelength — Journal of Lightwave Technology 39(2) (2021). DOI

Low-power coherent optical links for datacenter interconnects. Cryogenic silicon photonic optical links for classical and quantum computing.

Schuller Lab — Prof. Jon Schuller

PI: Prof. Jon Schuller (Google Scholar) • Group Website Investigates light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, designing dielectric and semiconductor metasurfaces for directional light emission, magneto-optical traps, and active reconfigurable photonic devices. Selected Recent Publications: High efficiency large-angle polarization-insensitive retroreflecting metasurface for magneto-optical traps — Applied Physics Letters 124, 251704 (2024). DOI Optimizing Polarization Selective Unidirectional Photoluminescence from Phased-Array Metasurfaces — Advanced Optical Materials (2024). DOI

Hybrid organic/inorganic crystalline microstructures with quantum-confinement-induced red luminescence. Tunable dielectric metasurface beam deflector for engineered light steering.

Quantum Computing, Quantum Sensing & Quantum Materials

Quantum optics, entangled photon sources, NV-center sensing, topological qubits, and correlated electron systems — building the hardware foundations for quantum information science.

Quantum Optics & Quantum Information Group — Prof. Dirk Bouwmeester

PI: Prof. Dirk Bouwmeester (Google Scholar) • Group Website Explores quantum optics and cavity quantum electrodynamics with semiconductor quantum dots, optomechanical systems using phononic crystal membranes, and quantum decoherence phenomena. Selected Recent Publications: Single-emitter quantum key distribution over 175 km of fibre with optimised finite key rates — Nature Communications 14, 3573 (2023). DOI Phononically shielded multi-wavelength photonic-crystal membrane for cavity quantum optomechanics — Optics Express 33(4), 8203 (2025). DOI

SEM image of a phononic crystal membrane fabricated for optomechanical experiments (silicon nitride or diamond). Dark-field optical image of a quantum dot microcavity device showing the defect region of a photonic crystal structure.

Quantum Photonics Laboratory — Prof. Galan Moody

PI: Prof. Galan Moody (Google Scholar) • Group Website Develops integrated quantum photonic devices on chip-scale platforms, including entangled photon-pair sources from microring resonators, 2D material quantum emitters, and scalable single-photon technologies for quantum networking. Selected Recent Publications: 2022 Roadmap on integrated quantum photonics — Journal of Physics: Photonics 4, 012501 (2022). DOI Defect and strain engineering of monolayer WSe2 enables site-controlled single-photon emission up to 150 K — Nature Communications 12, 3585 (2021). DOI

Packaged AlGaAs-on-insulator photonic integrated circuit (PIC) with entangled-pair sources, delivered to Cisco Quantum Labs for quantum networking. AlGaAsOI microresonator ring array for high-rate time- and frequency-bin entanglement generation (from PRX Quantum 2025 publication).

Quantum Sensing & Imaging Group — Prof. Ania Jayich

PI: Prof. Ania Bleszynski Jayich (Google Scholar) • Group Website (10−9 Lab) Engineers nitrogen-vacancy (NV) centers in diamond for ultra-sensitive nanoscale magnetometry and quantum sensing. Recent breakthroughs leverage many-body quantum dynamics for signal amplification in solid-state quantum sensors. Selected Recent Publications: Signal amplification in a solid-state sensor through asymmetric many-body echo — Nature 646, 68–73 (2025). DOI Scalable nanoscale positioning of highly coherent color centers in prefabricated diamond nanostructures — Nature Communications 16 (2025). DOI

Diamond scanning probe tip with a single NV center, used for nanoscale magnetometry (pillar-cantilever geometry). Scanning NV magnetometry image showing nanoscale magnetic field mapping of a condensed matter sample.

Palmstrom Group — Prof. Chris Palmstrom

PI: Prof. Chris Palmstrom (Google Scholar) • Group Website Grows quantum materials by molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), including III-V semiconductor heterostructures, Heusler compounds, and superconductor/semiconductor hybrids for topological quantum computing and superconducting circuits. Selected Recent Publications: Cryogenic Growth of Tantalum Thin Films for Low-Loss Superconducting Circuits — Physical Review Applied 23(3), 034025 (2025). DOI Fabrication and Characterization of Low-Loss Al/Si/Al Parallel Plate Capacitors for Superconducting Quantum Information Applications — npj Quantum Information 11 (2025). DOI

SEM/false-color image of Sn/InAs Josephson junctions on selective area grown nanowires with in-situ shadowed superconductor evaporation. Scienta Omicron EVO 50 Cryo-MBE chamber for growing superconductors at cryogenic substrate temperatures (below 20 K).

Young Lab — Prof. Andrea Young

PI: Prof. Andrea Young (Google Scholar) • Group Website Investigates correlated electronic phases in van der Waals heterostructures, including superconductivity, magnetism, and quantum Hall physics in graphene-based systems using nanofabrication and low-temperature transport measurements. Selected Recent Publications: Superconductivity in rhombohedral trilayer graphene — Nature 598, 434–438 (2021). DOI Isospin magnetism and spin-polarized superconductivity in Bernal bilayer graphene — Science 375(6582) (2022). DOI

NanoSQUID-on-tip probe and tuning fork assembly used for cryogenic scanning magnetic and thermal imaging of quantum materials. NanoSQUID scanning image of a van der Waals heterostructure device, showing AC susceptibility mapping (likely graphene fractional quantum Hall system).

High-Speed Electronics & RF

Sub-THz transistors, 2D-material nanoelectronics, and advanced CMOS architectures — driving the next generation of wireless communications and computing.

High Speed Electronics Group — Prof. Mark Rodwell

PI: Prof. Mark Rodwell (Google Scholar) • Group Website Develops InP heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) integrated circuits and transceiver modules operating at 100–300 GHz for next-generation sub-THz wireless communication systems with multi-Gbps data rates. Selected Recent Publications: 100–300 GHz Wireless: Transistors, ICs, and Systems — IEEE Microwave Magazine (2025). DOI A 280 GHz InP HBT Direct-Conversion Receiver with 10.8 dB NF — IEEE RFIC Symposium (2023). DOI

Cross-sectional SEM of a UCSB InP HBT showing sub-micron emitter, base, and collector mesa layers. 130 nm InP HBT transceiver IC layout for 100–300 GHz wireless systems.

Nanoelectronics Research Lab — Prof. Kaustav Banerjee

PI: Prof. Kaustav Banerjee (Google Scholar) • Group Website Pioneers 2D material-based transistor architectures for future CMOS scaling, including 3D transistors with 2D semiconductors, neuromorphic computing platforms using tunnel-FETs, and cryogenic CMOS for quantum computing. Selected Recent Publications: Three-dimensional Transistors with Two-dimensional Semiconductors for Future CMOS Scaling — Nature Electronics (2024). DOI An Ultra Energy-efficient Hardware Platform for Neuromorphic Computing Enabled by 2D-TMD Tunnel-FETs — Nature Communications (2024). DOI

Intercalated multilayer graphene on-chip spiral inductors — the first kinetic inductors achieving 1.5× higher inductance density than copper. 3D nano-plate FET architecture using 2D WS2 semiconductors in gate-all-around configuration.

Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors & Power Electronics

GaN and Ga₂O₃ devices for solid-state lighting, micro-LEDs, laser diodes, and high-voltage power conversion — from Nobel Prize-winning blue LEDs to next-generation ultra-wide-bandgap power electronics.

Krishnamoorthy Research Group — Prof. Sriram Krishnamoorthy

PI: Prof. Sriram Krishnamoorthy (Google Scholar) • Group Website Advances ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor device technology, particularly β-Ga2O3 power electronics including kilovolt-class MOSFETs and Schottky barrier diodes grown by MOCVD for high-voltage, high-efficiency power conversion. Selected Recent Publications: Kilovolt-Class β-Ga2O3 MOSFETs on 1-inch Bulk Substrates — Applied Physics Letters (2024). DOI 2.1 kV (001)-β-Ga2O3 Vertical Schottky Barrier Diode with High-k Oxide Field Plate — Applied Physics Letters (2023). DOI

Wide-bandgap semiconductor device research: GaN/Ga2O3 power electronics for high-voltage, high-efficiency power conversion. Advanced materials research at UCSB CNSI for ultra-wide-bandgap semiconductor devices.

Solid State Lighting & Electronic Center (SSLEEC) — Prof. Steven DenBaars & Prof. Shuji Nakamura

Directors: Prof. Steven DenBaars (Google Scholar) • Prof. Shuji Nakamura (Nobel Laureate, 2014 — Google Scholar) • SSLEEC Website Leads development of III-nitride (InGaN/GaN) optoelectronic devices including micro-LEDs scaled to the single-micron regime for AR/VR displays, edge-emitting laser diodes, and advanced LED architectures with metasurface and distributed Bragg reflector integration. Selected Recent Publications: High External Quantum Efficiency in Ultra-small Amber InGaN MicroLEDs Scaled to 1 μm — Applied Physics Letters (2024). DOI Metasurface Light-Emitting Diodes with Directional and Focused Emission — Nano Letters (2023). DOI

Comparison of 1 μm InGaN/GaN micro-LED with a human hair, demonstrating ultra-small scale device fabrication for AR/VR displays. SSLEEC optical bench with III-nitride LED/laser characterization equipment. Photo: Prof. Shuji Nakamura.

Advanced Materials & Novel Devices

Topological semimetals, memristive crossbar arrays, plasma nanoscience, and neuromorphic hardware — pushing the boundaries of materials science and unconventional computing architectures.

Stemmer Research Group — Prof. Susanne Stemmer

PI: Prof. Susanne Stemmer (Google Scholar) • Group Website Investigates quantum materials including functional and correlated complex oxides and topological semimetals, with emphasis on thin-film epitaxial growth (MBE), quantum transport, and electronic structure engineering at heterostructure interfaces. Selected Recent Publications: Two-Dimensional Topological Insulator State in Cadmium Arsenide Thin Films — Physical Review Letters 130, 046201 (2023). DOI Similarity in the Critical Thicknesses for Superconductivity and Ferroelectricity in Strained SrTiO3 Films — Applied Physics Letters (2022). DOI

Stemmer Research Group banner: MBE-grown quantum materials and topological semimetal thin films. Advanced characterization tools and discovery science at UCSB CNSI for quantum materials research.

Strukov Research Group — Prof. Dmitri Strukov

PI: Prof. Dmitri Strukov (Google Scholar) • Group Website Develops novel memristive (resistive switching) devices and hybrid CMOS/memristor circuits for neuromorphic computing, in-memory computing, and hardware accelerators for neural networks and optimization problems. Selected Recent Publications: Recent Advances and Future Prospects for Memristive Materials, Devices, and Systems — ACS Nano (2023). DOI 4K-Memristor Analog-Grade Passive Crossbar Circuit — Nature Communications 12 (2021). DOI

SEM of a 64×64 passive memristive crossbar array (4,096 devices) with Ti/Al/TiN electrodes and Al2O3/TiO2-x switching layers. 4K-pixel grayscale Einstein image programmed into the memristive crossbar with <4% tuning error, demonstrating analog-grade conductance control.

Gordon Lab — Prof. Mike Gordon

PI: Prof. Michael J. Gordon (Google Scholar) • Group Website Works on plasma science and engineering (atmospheric and non-thermal plasmas), catalysis in molten metals for methane pyrolysis and hydrogen production, and nanoscale fabrication including colloidal lithography and micro-LED characterization. Selected Recent Publications: AC Plasmas Directly Excited in Liquid-Phase Hydrocarbons for H2 and Unsaturated C2 Hydrocarbon Production — Journal of the American Chemical Society 147(1) (2025). DOI Dry Reforming of Methane Catalysed by Molten Metal Alloys — Nature Catalysis 3, 83–89 (2020). DOI

Laser shadowgraph of plasma discharge in liquid hexane showing streamer propagation and shock waves for hydrogen production. Gordon Lab research: Plasma science, catalysis, and nanoscale fabrication for hydrogen production and sustainable chemistry.

Microfluidics & MEMS

Nanofluidic transport, lab-on-chip biosensors, and microfabricated biomedical devices — bridging nanofabrication with biological and chemical applications.

Pennathur Lab — Prof. Sumita Pennathur

PI: Prof. Sumita Pennathur (Google Scholar) • Group Website Studies electrokinetic transport in nanofluidic channels, ionic current rectification in bipolar nanochannels, and the design of nanofluidic diodes and biosensors, combining experimental micro/nanofabrication with computational modeling. Selected Recent Publications: Coupling Charge-Regulated Interfacial Chemistry to Electrokinetic Ion Transport in Bipolar SiO2–Al2O3 Nanofluidic Diodes — Advanced Materials Interfaces (2024). DOI Nanofluidic Diodes Based on Asymmetric Bio-Inspired Surface Coatings in Straight Glass Nanochannels — Faraday Discussions (2023). DOI

Nanofluidic channel with embedded electrodes for electric double layer modulation and electroosmotic flow control. Silicon microneedle array fabricated using MEMS wet etching techniques for minimally invasive biofluid extraction.

Astronomical Instrumentation

Superconducting photon-counting detectors for ground-based astronomy — fabricating the cameras that image exoplanets.

Mazin Laboratory — Prof. Ben Mazin

PI: Prof. Benjamin Mazin • INSPIRE-HEP Publications • Lab Publication List Pioneers Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detectors (MKIDs) — superconducting photon-counting sensors with zero read noise that measure each photon's energy, arrival time, and position. Deploys MKID-based cameras (MEC, XKID) at major telescopes for direct imaging of exoplanets. Selected Recent Publications: Characterization of Photon Arrival Timing Jitter in Microwave Kinetic Inductance Detector Arrays — Applied Physics Letters (2024). DOI Characterizing the Dark Count Rate of a Large-Format MKID Array — Optics Express 31(6), 10775 (2023). DOI

Optical/near-IR MKID array — the revolutionary photon-counting detector technology at the core of Mazin Lab research. 10,000-pixel MKID array in gold sample box with progressive zoom-ins showing pixel grid and individual lumped-element resonator structures.

---

Publication Archives

• 2018 Publications
• Earlier Publications
• Select Publications — A selection of publications that utilized the UCSB NanoFab

Research Presentations

• Photonics
• Electronics
• THz Physics

Research Image Galleries

• Photonics • Electronics • MEMS • Physics • Fluidics