Physics of Nanostructures

This lecture unit presents the physical properties of various nanostructures, such as quantum wells, 1D photonic crystals, carbon nanotubes, and graphene. It covers their electronic (structure and transport), vibrational, and optical properties, as well as the radiation-matter interaction.

The goal will be to describe the development of low-dimensional materials and their associated electronic, photonic, and phononic structures, and to study transport phenomena, electron-photon and electron-phonon couplings, excitons, as well as the absorption, emission, and scattering of light.

Describe physical phenomena that occur at the nanoscale and understand the properties of nanomaterials.

Concepts in crystallography, reciprocal lattice. Band structure. Propagation of electromagnetic waves (Maxwell’s equations). Vibrations in a crystal, absorption and dispersion of light.

Recommended prerequisites:

Excitonic effects, electronic and phononic dispersion curves.

Continuous assessment.

4 written exams and 1 oral exam.

The final grade is the average of the 5 grades.

Carbon-based nanostructures:

 Introduction to Carbon-Based Nanostructures
Structural, Electronic, and Optical Properties of Graphene and Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes
Raman Spectroscopy
Applications of Carbon Nanostructures

Nanophotonics: 

1D, 2D, and 3D Photonic Crystals

Reflectivity and Transmission via Transfer Matrices

Band diagram

Anisotropic media

Plasmonics

Optical spectroscopy of nanostructures:

 Interaction between light and electrons confined within a nanostructure

Semiconductor wells and quantum dots: intra-band and inter-band transitions

"Quantum" light emitters

Nanotransport:

 Semi-classical transport theories
Quantum transport: Effects of dimensionality and band structure
Landauer formalism
Transport in nanotubes and graphene
Quantum Hall effect and metrology
The high-mobility transistor (HEMT)