Caltech Nanofabrication Group

Anyone with kids knows that when you make something smaller, it doesn't always behave the way you think it should.

My research focuses on manipulation of materials at ultimate scaling limits, investigating effects which only become apparent deep in the nanometer regime.  Here, quantum-confinement and other factors fundamentally change material behavior, which we are using to enable materials to emit light which normally cannot, to demonstrate extreme elasticity in brittle materials (imagine bending your dinner plates in half like a rubber band!), and to grow dissimilar materials together in a manner which cannot be done in bulk samples.

My devices exploit these effects in novel electrical, optical, and mechanical systems.  Currently, I'm focused on 1D transistor geometries, ion sensitive FETs for possible geological, chemical and implantable biomedical devices, and III-V QD heteroepitaxy on silicon below the pseudomorphic growth limit.  These systems are crucial for next-generation electronics, all-optical computation, quantum cavity electrodynamics, as well as traditional photonic devices such as modulators and sensors.

When I'm not in lab, I can't be far from my amazing wife Kelsey and two beautiful children, Natalie and Ashton.  I'm endlessly fascinated by them and learn immense amounts from their boundless curiosity.  Depending on the season, we can be found skiing, swimming, biking, hiking, or camping, and explore museums, parks, books, puzzles, home science experiments and innumerable other sports and activities throughout the year.  If there's any time left over, I can be found cooking or playing the piano, or simply enjoying a quiet evening with Kelsey.

• Kim, S.-H., Homyk, A., Walavalkar, S. & Scherer, A. (2012). High-Q Impurity Photon States Bounded by a Photonic Band Pseudogap in an Optically Thick Photonic Crystal Slab. Physical Review B, 86(24), 245114. [More] 
• Walavalkar, S., Homyk, A., Henry, D. & Scherer, A. (2012). Three-Dimensional Etching of Silicon for the Fabrication of Low-Dimensional and Suspended Devices. Nanoscale, Advanced online. [More] 
• Hendrickson, J., Homyk, A., Scherer, A., Alasaarela, T., Saynatjoki, A., Honkanen, S. et al (2012). Quantum Optics with Semiconductor Nanostructures, chapter 13. Philadelphia : Woodhead Publishing. [More] 
• Gehl, M., Gibson, R., Hendrickson, J., Homyk, A., Saynatjoki, A., Alasaarela, T. et al. (2012). Effect of atomic layer deposition on the quality factor of silicon nanobeam cavities. Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 29(2), A55-A59. [More] 
• Richards, B. C., Hendrickson, J., Olitzky, J. D., Gibson, R., Gehl, M., Kieu, K. et al. (2011). Progress in growth, fabrication, and characterization of semiconductor photonic crystal nanocavities. Physica Status Solidi B, 248(4), 892-896. [More]