Zhores Alferov IYL Presentation: Efficient Light Conversion and Generation
A Nobel plenary lecture from the International Year of Light opening ceremony in Paris.
Heterostructures are formed by combining or joining at least two different materials. In this way, new structures can be designed with unique and superior electrical, optical, and mechanical properties. Heterostructures determined the creation and development of fiber-optic communication, mobile telephony and satellite communication and allowed for explosive development of semiconductor lasers and LEDs. All modern photonics, fast electronics, and to a large extent, solar energy and energy efficiency are based on application of heterostructures.
This lecture briefly reviews the history behind the physics and technology of heterostructures, as well as current trends in the development and application of heterostructures for efficient light generation and conversion.
Zhores Alferov is Vice-President of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), Chairman of the Saint-Petersburg Scientific Centre of RAS, and Rector of the Saint-Petersburg Academic University-Nanotechnology Research and Education Centre of RAS. His research has contributed significantly to the creation of modern heterostructure physics and electronics.
In 2000, Alferov shared the Nobel Prize in Physics with Herbert Kroemer for "developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics."
