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Extreme Quantum Sensing Inspired by Nature

Research at the Mohseni Lab covers the entire gamut of building new quantum optoelectronic devices with breakthrough performance. Our research includes developing advanced simulations, novel materials, advanced devices, novel nano-fabrication, and breakthrough systems. We tackle real world problems and advance technologies that show promise for making orders-of-magnitude performance improvements. Our research has made impacts in many fields spanning from medicine to astronomy.

Research Interests

Advanced Photonics and Optoelectronics Simulation

Novel Nano-Materials

 Advanced Optoelectronic Devices

 
Novel Nano-Fabrication

Breakthrough Sensing Systems

 

Latest Accomplishments and publications

 

 

CMOS-Compatible, High-Sensitivity, High-Bandwidth, and Low-Power Integrated Optoelectronics

In our work: “Fast and Efficient Type-II Phototransistors Integrated on Silicon”, preprinted at arXiv (2023), we display integrated optoelectronic devices with a data transmission density in excess of 800 Tbps/mm^2 and energy consumption of ~6 fJ/bit. These devices are comparable to the best APD receivers while having significantly lower power consumption/ higher energy efficiency.

  

Increasing the Habitability of Mars using Iron Nanorods

In our work: “Feasibility of Keeping Mars Warm with Nanoparticles”, published in Science Advances (2024), we propose an artificial aerosol that has 5E3 times better warming performance when compared to the best greenhouse gases. This aerosol is composed of iron nanorods which have the possibility to be sourced from Martian materials, overcoming some logistics issues present with warming techniques requiring large payloads.

Group & Announcements

Latest Announcements

  • Hyeonseon Choi, Kehley Coleman, and Nate Coirier were awarded access to Argonne’s Center for Nanoscale Materials (Aug. 2024)
  • Samaneh Ansari’s paper, “Feasibility of Keeping Mars Warm with Nanoparticles”, was widely reported on by over 150 news outlets, including Reuters, Science, The Economist, and Popular Science , reaching over 8.7 million within the first two weeks (Aug. 2024)
  • Nate Coirier was awarded a NUANCE Travel Grant to attend the TechConnect World Innovation Conference and Expo (June 2024)
  • Yuqing Wang was hired on for a summer internship with the Science Corporation’s IC team (June 2024)
  • Nate Coirier’s contribution to the Air Force Office of Scientific Research’s 2023 “Art of Science Showcase” was featured in AFOSR communications (May 2024)
  • Simone Bianconi was awarded the ECE Department best PhD Thesis Award (2022)
  • Trace Landreth was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Senior Electrical Engineering Award (2022)
  • Stephen Cheng was awarded the ECE Department Undergraduate Summer Research Award (2022)
  • Ritvik Karra was awarded the McCormick Summer Research Award (2022)
  • Sneh Deshpande was awarded the Summer Undergraduate Research Grant Award (2022)
  • Nate Coirier was awarded an NSF GRFP fellowship (2022)
  • Nate Coirier was awarded the Outstanding Graduating Senior Electrical Engineering Award (2021)
  • Daniel Timbie and Simone Bianconi were awarded access to Argonne National Laboratory’s Center for Nanoscale Materials (2021)
  • Simone Bianconi was awarded the SPIE Officer Travel Grant to participate in Photonics West 2020
  • Maria Mutz was awarded a rare joint URG-McCormick award supporting her undergraduate research in opto-electronic devices (2018)
  • Simone Bianconi was awarded the Ryan Fellowship supporting his research in novel nanoscale photo-detectors (2018)
  • Frank Wang was nominated to receive the award for Outstanding Double-Major (EE & CS) (2018)
  • Allen Tang was nominated to receive the award for Outstanding Senior in Electrical Engineering (2018)
  • Simone Bianconi was awarded the 2018 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship
  • Alvin Tan was nominated for the National Goldwater Scholarship by the Northwestern University internal review committee (2017)
  • Farah Fahim recieved first place for the student paper award through VIPIC at the 2016 IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium (2017)
  • Mohsen Rezaei was Awarded the 2016 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship (2016)
  • Vala Fathipour was Awarded the 2016 SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship (2016)
  • Travis Hamilton’s work on nanosphere photolithography was showcased in SPIE newsroom. “Nanosphere photolithography for sub-100nm features” SPIE Newsroom (2016)
  • BISOL was awarded a 1 million dollar grant by the W. M. Keck foundation for the continued development of a novel SWIR camera. (2015)
  • Iman Hassani Nia was awarded an SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship (2015)
  • Vala Fathipour was awarded the Incubic Milton Chang Student Travel Grant for attending for FiO Conference (2014)
  • Vala Fathipour was awarded the SPIE Student Travel Grant for attending the SPIE Optics & Photonics Conference (2014)
  • Vala Fathipour was awarded the 2014 Best Student Paper Award at SPIE Optics & Photonics Conference (2014)
  • Iman Hassani Nia won the NSF Support Award for attending the IEEE Summer Topicals at Montreal (2014)
  • Alireza Bonakdar was awarded the SPIE Optics and Photonics Education Scholarship (2014)
  • Alireza Bonakdar won the second place in the NU Research Day Poster Competition (2014)
  • Vala Fathipour received URA Visiting Scholars award to work in the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory on Large area ASICs for readout of pixellated sensors (2014)
  • Vala Fathipour was awarded the Ryan Fellowship for research in nanotechnology (2013)
  • Alireza Bonakdar won the NSF Support Award for attending the IEEE Summer Topicals at Hawaii (2013)
  • The Bio-Inspired Sensors and Optoelectronics Lab was featured in the article “Modeled on the Human Eye” in the McCormick Magazine (2012)
  • BISOL’s collaborative research with the groups of Professors Lin X. Chen, Fraser Stoddart, and Samuel I. Stupp is accepted for immediate publication in the Nature Journal (2012)