Event
The Paint Branch Distinguished Lecture in Applied Physics
Tuesday, October 25, 2016
4:00 p.m.
John S. Toll Physics Building, Room 1412
Taylor Prendergast
301 405 4951
tprender@umd.edu
http://ireap.umd.edu/paintbranch
Speaker: Eli Yablonovitch| University of California, Berkeley
Biography: Eli Yablonovitch is Director of the NSF Center for Energy Efficient Electronics Science (E3S), a multi-University Center headquartered at Berkeley. Yablonovitch introduced the idea that strained semiconductor lasers could have superior performance due to reduced valence band (hole) effective mass. With almost every human interaction with the internet, optical telecommunication occurs by strained semiconductor lasers. In his photovoltaic research, Yablonovitch introduced the 4n2 (“Yablonovitch Limit”) light-trapping factor that is in worldwide use, for almost all commercial solar panels. Based on his mantra that “a great solar cell also needs to be a great LED”, his startup company Alta Devices Inc. has, since 2011, held the world record for solar cell efficiency, now 28.8% at 1 sun. He is regarded as a Father of the Photonic BandGap concept, and he coined the term "Photonic Crystal". The geometrical structure of the first experimentally realized Photonic bandgap, is sometimes called “Yablonovite”. His startup company Ethertronics Inc., has shipped over one billion cellphone antennas. He has been elected to the NAE, the NAS, and as Foreign Member, UK Royal Society. Among his honors is the Buckley Prize of the American Physical Society, and the Isaac Newton Medal of the UK Institute of Physics.
For more information, please visit ireap.umd.edu/paintbranch
We hope to see you there!