Department of Physics, Applied Physics, and Astronomy
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
110 Eighth Street, Troy, New York 12180-3590 USA

Telephone:
(518) 276-6310
Fax: (518) 276-6680
E-mail: physics@rpi.edu

Ricardo Ascázubi
Multidisciplinary Science

Currently I am working with Prof. Ingrid Wilke in the Department of Physics, Applied Physics and Astronomy. Our research is focused on the emission of THz radiation from semiconductor surfaces. This topic is important because new applications of THz spectroscopy demand more powerful sources of this radiation.

Most of our activities are centered on narrow bandgap materials as sources of THz radiation. Apart from the scientific interest in the description of the generation process, we are interested in the potential applications of low bandgap materials with femtosecond fiber lasers that operate at longer wavelengths.

Recent developments in the growth techniques for InN have enable the production of thin films of this material. Our experiments have confirmed the existence of interband absorption bellow previous bandgap values of 2.0 eV. These experiments support the new narrow bandgap character of InN.

My goal is to provide a quantitative description of the THz emission process from narrow bandgap semiconductor surfaces and to provide avenues for optimization of this process.