Doing Science in Armenia: From a Personal Outlook to Nanoscale Thermoelectric Photodetectors

Armenia is a rapidly developing country with an emerging high-tech science and industrial base. In this talk, I will give a brief outlook on current trends in Armenian education and science. I will then overview my personal experience in pursuing a scientific career in Armenia and discuss opportunities and challenges. I will then discuss my research topic on Nanoscale Thermoelectric Photodetectors through the prism of Armenian science.

High efficiency photodetectors are relevant to a broad range of science and technology fields, including biophysics, astrophysics, quantum and classical information and telecommunication systems. I will survey different methods of light detection and provide an overview of our ongoing work on thermoelectric photodetectors.

I will overview our theoretical calculations and simulations. I will show that thermoelectric detectors may be used to register single photons. I will discuss the importance of managing heat transfer processes and outline single- and multi-layer designs for optimizing pixel detection. Finally, I will examine noise sources and effects on detection level. I will show calculations of Johnson and phonon noises, and study the detector design to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio at temperatures up to those for liquid nitrogen.

Zoom Meeting: ucla.zoom.us/s/93071151852

Passcode: PAI