Jiangnan Liu receives SVCF Scholarship to support research in quantum photonics

Jiangnan Liu, a PhD student in Electrical and Computer Engineering, has been awarded a scholarship from the Society of Vacuum Coaters Foundation (SVCF) to support his research in new materials with applications in quantum photonics and electronics.

Specifically, Liu is investigating the epitaxial growth of high quality ferroelectric scandium aluminum nitride (ScAlN) materials and exploring their applications in quantum photonics and high-performance electronics. He and other members of Prof. Zetian Mi’s research group have fabricated photonic devices such as a microring resonator, which is a crucial component for the construction of photonic integrated circuits. 

“With its enhanced second-order optical nonlinearity, we are exploring more applications in quantum photonics,” said Liu.

He and his teammates have also taken advantage of the superior ferroelectricity shown in ScAlN materials, where it can be used for negative capacitance-field effect transistors (NC-FET) and in-memory computing, etc. for next generation electronics. 

Liu has co-authored 16 publications for conferences and journals. He received his B.S. degree from Jilin University in China, and his master’s degree in materials science and engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. He is advised by Prof. Zetian Mi.