Research Group of Richard M. Osgood, Jr.

Our Laboratory is divided into two primary groups: Surface Physics and Optical Devices and Science. The Surface Physics group works in the domain of fundamental science for surfaces, while the Optical Devices and Science group focuses on the development of next-generation optical devices and their applications.

Our groups are highly collaborative and interactive. We publish and attend conferences frequently. We work closely with collaborators from such places as MIT Lincoln Lab, IBM Watson Research Laboratory, RSoft Inc., and Brookhaven National Laboratory. We also have many collaborative efforts within Columbia, including those with groups in the Chemistry, Physics, Applied Physics, Mechanical, and Chemical Engineering Departments. Finally, we maintain rewarding collaborations with other universities, such as SUNY, Princeton and Brown.

Our groups are large and diverse; we have had 38 Ph.D. graduates, with about 40% in Applied and Pure Physics, 40% in Electrical Engineering, and 20% in Materials Science or Chemistry. We have also been fortunate to have some very enthusiastic and extraordinarily talented senior researchers and postdoctoral fellows who help lead our research. Graduates from our group move into very diverse jobs - for example, several of our former members are university Professors, others have started successful optics companies, others are at national or major industrial labs, several are in senior industrial management positions, and many are now successful patent lawyers.

Currently we are now very actively involved in the areas of nanoscience and nanodevices. We are interested in basic questions: how do we trap electrons in artificial structures, 1-10A in size, at room temperature? How do chemical reactions change in nanostructures? We are also interested in questions that address the new generations of optical devices, such as: what is the smallest structure in which we can capture a photon? Or: how can we design these new ultracompact devices?

To answer these questions, we work with new forms of materials - some nano and some new forms of important crystals. We also work with new instrumentation, including ultrafast lasers, electron beam writers, and Linux computer clusters. Some of the projects on which we work are illustrated below; others can be found by following the links to the individual group pages below.