The Optoelectronics and Radiation Effects conducts basic and applied research and development that include the following areas:

• The development of silicon molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) for novel homostructures and heterostructures and improved properties of silicon-based electronic technologies
• The extension of silicon microelectronics into the nanometer feature size regime
• The effects of ionizing radiation and nuclear particles on materials, test structures, microelectronic and photonic devices, photovoltaic devices, superconductors, radiation-detectors, and components of space systems including survivability and operability of satellite components in the space radiation environment (natural and weapon)
• Developing and conducting space experiments on advanced technologies
• The investigation of single-event effects including measurements and modeling, especially in high-speed electronics and photonics
• Basic research into disorder effects in reduced dimensional and quantum electronic systems
• The study of the reliability physics of active metal oxide semi-conductor (MOS) devices in various radiation environments
• The design, fabrication, and evaluation of silicon and compound semicon-ductor photodetector devices for use as visible X-ray, ultraviolet, and infrared imagers and for acoustoptic signal processing
• The study and growth by MBE of novel narrow bandgap material
• The design, synthesis, and study of novel narrow-bandgap material and device structures for use in infrared sensing and imaging.
• The study and development of metamorphic buffer structures to enable the integration of heterogeneous layers for novel sensor applications.
• Design, fabrication, and integration of plasmonic structures to enhance coupling of infrared radiation to sensors.
• Development of new materials and device structures for high performance, uncooled thermal infrared imaging systems.
• The development of heterojunction active devices on silicon-on-insulator
• The study of layered structures by means of transmission electron microscopy
• Investigations of the primary photophysical processes that occur in condensed phase systems after excitation with an ultrashort light pulse which uses femtosecond laser spectroscopy to explore the nature and dynamics of the microscopic molecular environment in molecular liquids, the quantum control of excitation in molecules using the coherence properties of femtosecond light fields, and the characterization of the third-order nonlinear optical properties of nanostructured materials and novel photophysical processes that occur in supermolecular systems
• Develop photovoltaics for unique DoD environments, including high radiation space orbits, underwater, portable remote power, and UAVs.
• The characterization and fabrication nanoelectronic sensors and bioelectronic devices
• Theoretical simulation of nanoelectronic and quantum computational devices and circuits
• Studies of space radiation effects, both natural and man-made.