When transmitting and receiving electromagnetic signals, there is a need to match the frequencies and the phases of both a received signal and a locally generated signal. In terms of signal to noise ratio (SNR), the alignment of the phases gives the best results for retrieving any data that is modulated on the received signal. Better SNR yields higher...

Background Bismuth-containing III-V semiconductor alloys have received considerable attention as materials for optoelectronic devices operating in the mid- and long-wave infrared spectrum. The infrared spectrum finds important applications in both commerce and government, including medical imaging and diagnostics, autonomous vehicle sensors, telecommunications,...

Metal-assisted chemical imprinting (Mac-Imprint) is a contact-based wet etching process that combines metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) and nanoimprint lithography (NIL). Mac-Imprint processes have been used for semiconductor patterning with arbitrary and complex 3D micro- and nano-structures. While porous catalytic metal thin-films can be used...

Optogenetics uses light stimulation to control the excitation, inhibition, or signaling pathways of optically excitable cells and provides a powerful tool to diagnose and treat, as well as understand, numerous neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders. Modified neurons can be activated or silenced by different light frequencies. However, the...

The ability to manufacture high quality Sn-Ge and Si-Ge-Sn alloys has significant industry value for various reasons; however, existing techniques have failed to produce sufficiently high quality alloys to allow for effective use of these alloys in device applications. Specifically, the ability of Sn-Ge alloys to transition from indirect- to direct-gap...

Electrical structures which interact with light, such as solar cells and optical sensors, generally employ electrodes to collect a generated current (or to apply an external field) however, the electrode designs commonly used suffer from a number of disadvantages. For example, the wide spacing of electrodes in conventional solar cells, necessary to...