Professor Stephen Sweeney

  • Professor of Photonics and Nanotechnology (Electronic & Nanoscale Engineering)

email: Stephen.J.Sweeney@glasgow.ac.uk

Rm 701, Rankine building, Oakfield Ave, Glasgow, G12 8LT

Import to contacts

ORCID iDhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-8561-6071

Biography

Professor Stephen Sweeney holds a BSc in Applied Physics and Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) from the University of Bath and a PhD in Semiconductor Laser Physics from the University of Surrey. Following his PhD and postdoctoral positions, he joined Marconi Optical Components as a Scientist, becoming Lead Scientist of the Laser and Amplifier Technology group. He returned to Surrey as a Lecturer, promoted to Chair in Physics in 2010. He led the Photonics group based in the Advanced Technology Institute from 2010-2015 and was Head of the Department of Physics from 2015-2018. He was awarded a prestigious EPSRC Leadership Fellowship allowing him to focus on developing near- and mid-infrared laser technologies for applications in high efficiency optical communications, sensing and photonic integration. In 2022, he moved to the James Watt School of Engineering at the University of Glasgow as Professor of Photonics and Nanotechnology where he leads the Semiconductor Photonic Materials and Devices group.

 

In addition to his academic role, he is the Chief Technology Officer for UK photonics start-up Zinir Ltd, he has sat on the Editorial Boards of IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics and Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics, has guest edited IET Optoelectronics, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics and IoP Semiconductor Science and Technology. His other roles have included membership of the EPSRC III-V National Centre Steering Committee, the EPSRC and UKRI Colleges and the Institute of Physics Semiconductor Physics committee. He serves as an expert international advisor for the EU and several national funding agencies such as the Department of Energy (USA), National Science Foundation (USA), Singapore Research Agency, Enterprise Ireland, Leibnitz Foundation, FWO Belgium amongst others. He sits on the committees for a number of international conferences and has chaired several conferences in semiconductors and photonics. In 2015 he was President of the Physics and Astronomy section of the British Science Association. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of SPIE.

Stephen is passionate about science and engineering and their role in the health and wealth of society. He enjoys engaging with people of all ages and regularly gives talks at schools, interviews for the national press and is an advocate for UK science and technology globally.

Research interests

Working closely with industry, Stephen's research interests range from developing new semiconductors for use in photonic devices such as lasers and photovoltaics through to the development of new photonic systems for use in communications, lighting, energy, biosciences, health and the emerging field of space-based photonics.

His work has led to a large number of published and edited journal papers, book chapters and patents.

 

List of publications available on Google Scholar

Publications

List by: Type | Date

Jump to: 2023 | 2022 | 2021
Number of items: 12.

2023

Ren, A. et al. (2023) High-bandwidth perovskite photonic sources on silicon. Nature Photonics, 17(9), pp. 798-805. (doi: 10.1038/s41566-023-01242-9)

Khamari, S. K., Arslan, S., Zink, C., Sweeney, S. J. and Crump, P. (2023) Carrier density non-pinning at stripe edges and widened lateral far field due to longitudinal temperature variation in broad-area high power diode lasers. Applied Physics Letters, 122(21), 211101. (doi: 10.1063/5.0149986)

2022

Li, B. et al. (2022) Suppressing interfacial recombination with a strong‐interaction surface modulator for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 12(48), 2202868. (doi: 10.1002/aenm.202202868)

Webb, T. et al. (2022) A multifaceted ferrocene interlayer for highly stable and efficient lithium doped spiro‐OMeTAD‐based perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 12(26), 2200666. (doi: 10.1002/aenm.202200666)

Braddock, I. H. B., Al Sid Cheikh, M., Ghosh, J., Mulholland, R. E., O’Neill, J. G., Stolojan, V., Crean, C., Sweeney, S. J. and Sellin, P. J. (2022) Formamidinium lead halide perovskite nanocomposite scintillators. Nanomaterials, 12(13), 2141. (doi: 10.3390/nano12132141)

Fitch, C. R., Duffy, D. A., Ludewig, P., Stolz, W. and Sweeney, S. J. (2022) Refractive index dispersion of BGa(As)P alloys in the near-infrared for III-V laser integration on silicon. Journal of Applied Physics, 131(13), 133102. (doi: 10.1063/5.0081069)

Liu, X. et al. (2022) Influence of halide choice on formation of low‐dimensional perovskite interlayer in efficient perovskite solar cells. Energy and Environmental Materials, 5(2), pp. 670-682. (doi: 10.1002/eem2.12321)

Fitch, C. R., Baltusis, A., Marko, I. P., Jung, D., Norman, J. C., Bowers, J. E. and Sweeney, S. J. (2022) Carrier recombination properties of low-threshold 1.3 μm quantum dot lasers on silicon. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 28(1), 1900210. (doi: 10.1109/JSTQE.2021.3101293)

2021

Webb, T., Sweeney, S. J. and Zhang, W. (2021) Device architecture engineering: progress toward next generation perovskite solar cells. Advanced Functional Materials, 31(35), 2103121. (doi: 10.1002/adfm.202103121)

Skhunov, M., Solodukhin, A. N., Giannakou, P., Askew, L., Luponosov, Y. N., Balakirev, D. O., Kalinichenko, N. K., Marko, I. P., Sweeney, S. J. and Ponomarenko, S. A. (2021) Pixelated full-colour small molecule semiconductor devices towards artificial retinas. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9(18), pp. 5858-5867. (doi: 10.1039/D0TC05383J)

Yavari, M. et al. (2021) A synergistic Cs2CO3 ETL treatment to incorporate Cs cation into perovskite solar cells via two-step scalable fabrication. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9(12), pp. 4367-4377. (doi: 10.1039/D0TC05877G)

Fitch, C. R., Read, G. W., Marko, I. P., Duffy, D. A., Cerutti, L., Rodriguez, J.-B., Tournié, E. and Sweeney, S. J. (2021) Thermal performance of GaInSb quantum well lasers for silicon photonics applications. Applied Physics Letters, 118(10), 101105. (doi: 10.1063/5.0042667)

This list was generated on Sun Sep 24 20:43:53 2023 BST.
Jump to: Articles
Number of items: 12.

Articles

Ren, A. et al. (2023) High-bandwidth perovskite photonic sources on silicon. Nature Photonics, 17(9), pp. 798-805. (doi: 10.1038/s41566-023-01242-9)

Khamari, S. K., Arslan, S., Zink, C., Sweeney, S. J. and Crump, P. (2023) Carrier density non-pinning at stripe edges and widened lateral far field due to longitudinal temperature variation in broad-area high power diode lasers. Applied Physics Letters, 122(21), 211101. (doi: 10.1063/5.0149986)

Li, B. et al. (2022) Suppressing interfacial recombination with a strong‐interaction surface modulator for efficient inverted perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 12(48), 2202868. (doi: 10.1002/aenm.202202868)

Webb, T. et al. (2022) A multifaceted ferrocene interlayer for highly stable and efficient lithium doped spiro‐OMeTAD‐based perovskite solar cells. Advanced Energy Materials, 12(26), 2200666. (doi: 10.1002/aenm.202200666)

Braddock, I. H. B., Al Sid Cheikh, M., Ghosh, J., Mulholland, R. E., O’Neill, J. G., Stolojan, V., Crean, C., Sweeney, S. J. and Sellin, P. J. (2022) Formamidinium lead halide perovskite nanocomposite scintillators. Nanomaterials, 12(13), 2141. (doi: 10.3390/nano12132141)

Fitch, C. R., Duffy, D. A., Ludewig, P., Stolz, W. and Sweeney, S. J. (2022) Refractive index dispersion of BGa(As)P alloys in the near-infrared for III-V laser integration on silicon. Journal of Applied Physics, 131(13), 133102. (doi: 10.1063/5.0081069)

Liu, X. et al. (2022) Influence of halide choice on formation of low‐dimensional perovskite interlayer in efficient perovskite solar cells. Energy and Environmental Materials, 5(2), pp. 670-682. (doi: 10.1002/eem2.12321)

Fitch, C. R., Baltusis, A., Marko, I. P., Jung, D., Norman, J. C., Bowers, J. E. and Sweeney, S. J. (2022) Carrier recombination properties of low-threshold 1.3 μm quantum dot lasers on silicon. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 28(1), 1900210. (doi: 10.1109/JSTQE.2021.3101293)

Webb, T., Sweeney, S. J. and Zhang, W. (2021) Device architecture engineering: progress toward next generation perovskite solar cells. Advanced Functional Materials, 31(35), 2103121. (doi: 10.1002/adfm.202103121)

Skhunov, M., Solodukhin, A. N., Giannakou, P., Askew, L., Luponosov, Y. N., Balakirev, D. O., Kalinichenko, N. K., Marko, I. P., Sweeney, S. J. and Ponomarenko, S. A. (2021) Pixelated full-colour small molecule semiconductor devices towards artificial retinas. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9(18), pp. 5858-5867. (doi: 10.1039/D0TC05383J)

Yavari, M. et al. (2021) A synergistic Cs2CO3 ETL treatment to incorporate Cs cation into perovskite solar cells via two-step scalable fabrication. Journal of Materials Chemistry C, 9(12), pp. 4367-4377. (doi: 10.1039/D0TC05877G)

Fitch, C. R., Read, G. W., Marko, I. P., Duffy, D. A., Cerutti, L., Rodriguez, J.-B., Tournié, E. and Sweeney, S. J. (2021) Thermal performance of GaInSb quantum well lasers for silicon photonics applications. Applied Physics Letters, 118(10), 101105. (doi: 10.1063/5.0042667)

This list was generated on Sun Sep 24 20:43:53 2023 BST.

Supervision

 

Stephen has supervised over 40 successful PhD students and post-doctoral researchers.

Project opportunities are available in the following areas:

  • Quantitative photoluminescence imaging of compound semiconductors using compressed sensing techniques
  • Quantum dots in photonic crystal cavities for single-photon applications 
  • Active photonic thermometry 
  • Advanced silicon based light sources for photonics devices 
  • Developing novel photonic devices for infrared applications 
  • Perovskite materials for photonic applications
  • Next Generation of Electronic and Photonic Devices by Ion Beam (Implantation) Induced Strain
  • Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers for near- and mid-infrared applications
  • Optical wireless power beaming technologies for terrestrial and space applications
  • High efficiency semicondcutor lasers for telecomms and datacomms applications

 Current PhD project students:

  • Baltusis, Aidas
    Quantitative Photoluminescence Imaging of Compound Semiconductors
  • Ellis, Aneirin
    Novel Short-Wave Mid-Infrared Devices for Si Photonics Applications
  • Liu, Jingzhao
    GaAs Based Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers
  • Robinson, Matthew
    Short wavelength Photonic Crystal Surface Emitting Lasers
  • Zhao, Xingyu
    Visible Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs)

Former PhD students:

Name

Project

Collaborators

Destination

Dr Jamie McMillan

Metrology of infrared thermal imaging systems for space applications

NPL

NPL

Dr Dominic Duffy

Type-II and bismide alloys for high performance mid-infrared lasers

Univ. Marburg, Germany

ZiNIR Ltd.

Dr Chutima Termsuk

Silica based fibres for radiation dosimetry

 

 

Dr Chris Fitch

Novel integrated photonic devices on silicon

UC Santa Barbara, Univ. Marburg

Retired

Dr Matthew Sharpe

Novel semiconductors and nanocrystals for photodetectors

Univ. Sheffield, Univ. Marburg

National Ion Beam Centre (UK)

Dr Timothy Eales

Novel Mid-infrared Laser Materials & Devices

NRL, WSI-Munich, Univ. Arkansas

HM Government (UK)

Dr Zoe Bushell

Nanocavity Photonic Crystal Lasers

Univ. Marburg

National Trust (UK)

Dr Scott Jarvis

High Efficiency Laser Power Converters for Power Beaming

Airbus

QinetiQ

Dr Graham Read

Silicon lasers for photonic integration

UCSB, Univ. Marburg, Univ. Montpellier II

Freelance technical Consultant

Dr Abdullah Aldukhayel

Photonic devices for security and sensing

NTU, Singapore

Univ. Sheffield

Assistant Professor, Saudi Arabia

Dr Zahida Batool

Spectroscopy of novel photonic materials

UBC, Canada

Assistant Professor, Pakistan

Dr Michael Lewis

Quantum nanostructures for mid-infrared applications

QinetiQ

Head of Physics, George Abbott School, Guildford

Dr Nadir Hossain

Lasers for optical computing and communications

Univ. Marburg

Arizona State Univ.

Researcher, University of Montreal

Dr Somporn Buaprathoom

Nanophotonics for rapid water quality assessment

Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences

(Dr. Steve Pedley)

Teaching College, Thailand

Dr Ben Crutchley

Efficiency droop in GaN-based solid-state lighting

Osram & Univ. Cambridge

1E3 Robotics UK

Dr Sayid Sayid

Efficient, high performance devices for optical fibre comms and related applications

Oclaro

Harkness Ltd., UK

Dr Oijai Ongrai

Novel materials for high temperature measurements

NPL, Teddington

Metrologist,

NMI, Thailand

Dr Barnabas Ikyo

Mid-IR sources for medical applications

TU-Munich,

Naval Research Labs, Washington

Full Professor, Benue State University, Nigeria

Dr Joanna Coote

Ultra-sensitive laser biosensors

Bookham,

Faculty of Health and Medical Science

 (Dr. Sub Reddy)

Research Scientist, UCL, London

Dr Sucheta (Lisa) Ahmed

Visible LEDs for solid-state lighting

UC-San Diego

CHREA, Valbonne

Research Contracts Officer, University of Liverpool

Dr James Chamings

Dilute nitride-phosphide photonic components

Univ. Marburg

UC San Diego, USA

Scientist, Met Office, UK

Dr Nicolas Masse

Quantum Dot Lasers

Fujitsu, Tokyo

Univ. Renne

Univ. Sheffield

Pellenc  Selective Technologies, France.

Dr Daniel McConville

Long Wavelength GaInNAs(Sb) semiconductor QWs

Infineon, Germany

Stanford, USA

Univ. Marburg

Northern Ireland Government

Dr Stuart Cripps

Spectroscopy of mid-IR materials

ORC, Finland

 

DSTL

Dr Kevin O’Brien

Interband and interband cascade mid-IR lasers

Univ. Montpellier II

Arizona State Univ.

Amazon Labs, California

Dr Gunnar Blume

Novel materials for semiconductor microcavities

Univ. Marburg

Ferdinand-Braun Institute, Berlin

Dr Daren Lock

High Power Semiconductor Lasers

Bookham

Facebook technology innovations

Professional activities & recognition

Research fellowships

  • 2009 - 2015: EPSRC Leadership Fellow
  • 2019 - 2019: JSPS International Invitational Fellowship

Grant committees & research advisory boards

  • 2002 - 2023: UKRI-EPSRC, College Member
  • 2019 - 2023: UKRI, Future Leader Fellows Panel College
  • 2022 - 2023: Academy of Finland, Optics and Photonics Review Panel
  • 2020 - 2023: FWO (Research Foundation - Flanders), Physics Panel
  • 2020 - 2022: FCT (Portugal), Physics Panel
  • 2020 - 2021: Enterprise Ireland, DTIF Panel
  • 2022 - 2023: EPSRC, QUDOS project advisory board
  • 2010 - 2010: National Science Foundation (NSF), USA, Materials World Network Panel

Editorial boards

  • 2013 - 2023: Journal of Materials Science: Materials in Electronics
  • 2013 - 2018: IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics
  • 2012 - 2012: IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics
  • 2014 - 2014: Semiconductor Science and Technology

Professional & learned societies

  • 2021: Fellow, SPIE
  • 2013: Fellow, Institute of Physics
  • 2006: Senior Member, IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers)