Rolf Binder
Office: Meinel Building (College of Optical Sciences) room 632
Related Links: Theoretical Solid State Optics Group
Classification: Joint Faculty
Education: PhD (Dr. rer. nat.), 1988, University of Dortmund, Germany
Fields of Study:
Research Interests:
The main research focus in my group is on theoretical investigations of the optical properties of semiconductor structures. Our fundamental theoretical investigations of semiconductors are based on microscopic quantum-mechanical many-body theories and include ultrafast nonlinear optical processes in bulk semiconductors and quantum-well structures. Recent examples of research projects include electromagnetically-induced transparency, slow and fast light effects in bulk semiconductors and semiconductor heterostructures, nonlinear spectroscopy and all-optical switching applications of Bragg-spaced multiple quantum wells, optical refrigeration of semiconductors, optical four-wave mixing instabilities in semiconductor quantum wells systems, including microcavities, optical and elastic properties of semiconductor nanomembranes, many-body effects in graphene, and also a topic not related to semiconductors, namely laser cooling of optical glass fibers.
Honors and Awards:
- Fellow Optical Society of America
- Outstanding Referee American Physical Society
- Postdoctoral Fellowship of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG)
- Fellowship of the Graduiertenförderung des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen
Selected Publications:
A.T. Roberts, R.Binder, N.H. Kwong, D. Golla, D. Cormode, B.J. LeRoy, H.O. Everitt, and A. Sandhu, "Optical characterization of electron-phonon interactions at the saddle point in graphene," Phys. Rev. Lett. 112,187401 (2014).
V. Ardizzone, P. Lewandowski, M.H. Luk, Y.C. Tse, N.H. Kwong, A. Lucke, M. Abbarchi, E. Baudin, E. Galopin, J.Bloch, A. Lemaitre, P.T. Leung, P. Roussignol, R. Binder, J. Tignon and S. Schumacher, "Formation and control of Turing patterns in a coherent quantum fluid," Scientific Reports 3, 3016 (2013).
G. Rupper, N.H. Kwong, and R. Binder, "Large excitonic enhancement of optical refrigeration in semiconductors," Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 117401 (2006).
M. C Phillips, H. Wang, I. Rumyantsev, N. H. Kwong, R. Takayama and R. Binder, "Electromagnetically Induced Transparency in Semiconductors via Biexciton Coherence," Phys. Rev. Lett. 91, 183602 (2003).
N.H. Kwong, R. Takayama, I. Rumyantsev, M. Kuwata-Gonokami and R. Binder, "Evidence of Nonperturbative Continuum Correlations in Two-Dimensional Exciton System in Semiconductor Microcavities," Phys. Rev. Lett. 87, 027402 (2001).
Biography:
Rolf Binder is a professor at the University of Arizona, with joint appointments in the College of Optical Sciences and the department of physics. He studied physics at the universities of Dortmund and Stuttgart in Germany. He received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics from the University of Dortmund in 1988 and joined the University of Arizona in 1989. Using a variety of theoretical formalisms, including nonequilibrium Green’s functions, his research focuses mainly on the analysis and application of optical properties of solids. Examples of recent research projects include electromagnetically induced transparency, slow and fast light effects in semiconductor quantum wells systems, including microcavities, optical and elastic properties of semiconductor nanomembranes, and optical properties of graphene.