Dr. Suraj P Khanna: Summary of key research achievements

Dr. Suraj P. Khanna was born in New Delhi, India in 1979. He received his Ph.D. in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Leeds, Leeds, UK in 2008. He continued as a Post-Doctoral Research Associate at the University of Leeds till 2011. During these six years at Leeds, he worked on molecular beam epitaxial (MBE) growth, semiconductor device micro-fabrication, quantum cascade lasers (QCLs), high mobility devices for Quantum Hall Effect realization and terahertz frequency optical systems. Thereafter, he worked at the Northwestern University (2011-2012), Evanston, USA as a Research Fellow, on the metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy (MOVPE) growth of dilute magnetic semiconductors.

In July 2012, he joined CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi, India, as a Principal Scientist in lateral entry, in the core area of Physics and Electronics. Since July 2017 he is working as a Senior Principal Scientist and the Deputy Head for the 2D Physics and Quantum Resistance Metrology Group. His current research interests include hybrid heterostructure devices based on the integration of bulk semiconductors with 2D layered (van der Waals) materials for optoelectronic applications and development of indigenous Quantum Hall Resistance Primary standard. His work has led to a number of research collaborations across India, Americas & Europe and publication of 5 SCI journal articles with >30 impact factor and 48 SCI journal articles with >3 impact factor.

Total SCI journal articles: 91;

Total impact factor ~ 422;

Citations ~ 3350 (Google Scholar)

H-Index: 29 (Google Scholar)

Full list of publications: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2733-6538

LATEST NEWS

DEVICE - Novel Edge-Contact for 2D-3D heterostructure interface (Nov 2019)

Sensors & Actuators: A. Physical: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sna.2019.111720 Impact Factor: 2.739

Role: CoPI

The device demonstrates fast photoresponse speeds of <40 ms range under −5 V and +5 V.

Important finding: No persistent photocurrent behavior under +ve bias conditions in the 2D/3D heterostructure (r-GO/GaN) photodetector.

DEVICE - MOCVD GaN/r-GO UV-Visible photodetector for low light applications (July 2019)

ACS Applied Electronic Materials: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/acsaelm.9b00280 Impact Factor: awaited; Times Cited: 1

Role: CoPI

We have demonstrated a heterojunction photodetector based on reduced graphene oxide (r-GO) and metal–organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD)-grown gallium nitride (GaN) that can sense very low light intensities in the above-band-gap and below-band-gap regimes, showing no and high photoconductive gains, respectively.

DEVICE - HRGaN/r-GO based photodetector for Harsh Electronics (May 2019)

Advanced Optical Materials: https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201900340 Impact Factor: 7.430; Times Cited: 3

Role: CoPI

Broadband ultraviolet photodetector based on hybrid 2D/3D structure is demonstrated. The device employs a highly resistive GaN integrated with thin reduced graphene‐oxide for applications in harsh environments, working up to ±200 V bias and 116 °C with long‐term stability over 28 months. The device operates appreciably in both photovoltaic and photoconductive modes showing high responsivity and fast switching speed.

DEVICE – gC₃N₄/Si Binary Multifunctional Photodetector (May 2018)

Advanced Optical Materials: https://doi.org/10.1002/adom.201800191 Impact Factor: 7.430; Times Cited: 10

Role: CoPI

First realization of novel binary photoswitching over an ultrabroadband range is demonstrated. The device employs a hybrid 2D/3D structure based on silicon platform which opens up a possibility for the application of graphitic carbon‐nitride (g‐C₃N₄) nanosheets for light‐based binary communications, interconnects for optical computing and weak signal detections. An overlayer of g‐C₃N₄ may also significantly improve the performance of silicon solar cells.

DEVICE – self powered GaN/rGO UV Photodetector (Dec 2016)

Applied Physics Letters: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4971982 Impact Factor: 3.521; Times Cited: 34

Role: CoPI

Fabrication of high performance photodetectors using molecular beam epitaxy grown GaN is quite challenging & extremely costly. It is thus very essential to develop simple and cost effective fabrication routes to facilitate their large scale deployment. His group successfully demonstrated non-cleanroom fabrication of a hybrid device (r-GO/GaN) that works in self-powered mode for UV detection.

Other selected highlights

DEVICE – electrically tunable terahertz quantum cascade laser (2009)
Role: PI
He demonstrated the first electrically tunable emission frequency by up to 0.5 THz (covering from ~ 2.9 THz to 3.45 THz) in a single molecular beam epitaxy grown GaAs/AlGaAs terahertz QCL device (Khanna et al., Applied Physics Letters 95, 18, 181101, (2009)).This QCL device has been uniquely used for difference frequency imaging of PETN and Lactose as reported in Optics Express 17, 23, 20631 (2009); Impact Factor: 3.521; times cited: 40

DEVICE –world record beating terahertz QCL with highest operating temperature (2008)

Role: collaborative work
In collaboration with Prof. Capasso’s group at Harvard University, USA, he was involved in demonstration of the highest operating temperature178 K (for the year 2008-2009), for a three quantum well design MBE grown GaAs/AlGaAs terahertz QCL (Optics Express, 16, 5, 3242, (2008)); Impact Factor: 3.561; times cited: 250

DEVICE – demonstration of a general technique to reduce the angular divergence in metal-metal waveguide terahertz QCLs (2009)

Role: collaborative work
In collaboration with Prof. Colombelli’s group at Université Paris Sud and CNRS, France, he was involved in demonstration of a general technique to implement reflecting or absorbing boundaries, in the case of Photonic- crystal terahertz semiconductor lasers, where the photonic crystal is implemented via the sole patterning of the device top metallization to reduce the angular divergence in metal-metal waveguide terahertz QCLs (Nature 457, 174-178 (2009)); Impact Factor: 43.070; times cited: 295

Individual Project: PI for a three year DST SERB individual project (fast track young scientist, 2015-2018)

Project outcome: 5 Publications in SCI journals

Project Student Mr. Gaurav Kumar (3 yrs), currently (2019 onwards) pursuing PhD (Functional Optoelectronic Nanomaterials) at Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), Barcelona, SPAIN

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Other selected publications: