About
The ultimate vision of the Law lab research group is to be able to synthesize atomically-perfect thin films and heterostructures with designer properties to solve problems in energy, optics, quantum information science, and nanotechnology. We create our films using molecular beam epitaxy, a technique in which a material is built one atomic layer at a time–3D printing at the nanoscale. Prof. Law describes what molecular beam epitaxy is in this video. The films we grow with MBE are atomically smooth with high crystallinity, and we can tune their properties though alloying, chemical doping, and strain. The Law lab primarily focuses on van der Waals chalcogenide materials and III-V semiconductor materials, which have applications in infrared and terahertz optoelectronic devices, waste heat recovery and thermal emission control, next-generation computational devices and on-chip interconnects, and many more. In addition to the lab, molecular beam epitaxy is used in industry to create lasers, light emitting diodes, and solar cells, among other devices. After growth, our films are characterized using the shared equipment in the Penn State Materials Research Institute. This includes equipment from the 2D Crystal Consortium (2DCC-MIP), Materials Characterization Lab, and Nanofabrication Lab.
Highly-motivated graduate or undergraduate students in Materials Science and Engineering, Physics, or Electrical Engineering who are interested in joining the group should contact Dr. Law at slaw@psu.edu.
Potential postdocs with relevant research experience are further encouraged to contact Dr. Law regarding possible openings.
News
02/23/2024 Congratulations to Mingyu Yu for winning the University of Delaware Doctoral Fellowship!
12/06/2023 Congratulations to Ryan Trice for passing his Ph.D. Qualifying Exam!
10/26/2023 Congratulations to Molly McDonough, Nanda Gopakumar, and Ryan Trice for winning best posters at Penn State Materials Day!
10/12/2023 Congratulations to Molly McDonough for winning the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences NSF GRFP Poster Competition!
9/15/2023 Congratulations to Mingyu Yu for winning best NAMBE Paper!