Dr. Mark Harrison
Email: mharrison@chapman.edu
Website: https://harrison-lab.com
College: Fowler School of Engineering
Department: Electrical Engineering
Overview of scholarly research/creative activity: Dr. Harrison’s research focuses on developing photonic devices for use in large-scale digital logic circuits using high-powered simulations and standard micro- and nanofabrication techniques. This work will enable digital logic functionality for processing or routing digital information transmitted via optical communications.
Specific projects working on: The overall goal of the research group is to investigate novel integrated optical and photonics devices, primarily for digital information processing. These devices will be linked into photonics circuits to form the basis for optical computing applications. Specifically, projects in the lab include (1) developing new integrated optical device designs via high-powered simulations, (2) investigating fabrication approaches to combine discrete devices into larger-scale logic circuits, and (3) characterizing fabricated circuit behavior with benchtop equipment, including lasers and fiber optics. This work will explore how integrated photonic devices can be cascaded in arbitrary ways to allow for more complex circuit design allowing for a wide variety of information processing in the optical domain. We focus on exploring the viability of plasmonic multi-mode interferometer devices, as their fabrication is compatible with standard CMOS processes, they have a small footprint, and they are relatively robust to fabrication tolerances. In addition to investigating new device architectures, we will look into compatible plasmonic material systems to allow for novel optical regeneration schemes. While we are remote, our work is focused on device design using high-powered simulations, and we are exploring novel design techniques, such as inverse design.
Number of students looking to work with: 1-2
Time commitment for students: ~5 hrs/week during semester, 20-40 hrs/week during the summer
Requirements for students who work with you: recommended experience with writing code. helpful if calculus 3 has been completed.
When students are needed: Spring 2021, Summer 2021
What would students be expected to do: optical experiments, simulations, data analysis, literature review