Research includes pioneering studies of ultrafast laser-induced heating, melting, phase transformation, and nonlinear photoelectric emission of semiconductor and metal surfaces, and discovery of polarization-dependent switching and bistability in semiconductor lasers, including demonstration of polarization-dependent optical logic operations. Research group recently developed the first additive pulse mode-locked Nd:YLF laser, the CW synchronously pumped optical parametric oscillators, the vectorial beam propagation method, and the first picosecond photovoltaic semiconductor detector. Current research activities include the generation and applications of picosecond and femtosecond wavelength-tunable laser pulses, the development of time-domain numerical algorithms for the simulations and modeling of photonic devices and systems, the development of high-speed optoelectronic devices, and the investigation of the nonlinear dynamics of semiconductor lasers.

Selected Publications:

Simpson, T.B., Liu, J.M. and Gavrielides, A., "Small Signal Analysis of Modulation Characteristics in a Semiconductor Laser Subject to Strong Optical Injection," IEEE J. Quantum Electron, Vol. 32, pp. 1456-1468, 1996.

Chen, L.P., Wang, Y. and Liu, J.M., "Singly-Resonant Optical Parametric Oscillator Synchronously Pumped by Frequency-Double Additive-Pulse Mode-Locked Nd:YLF Laser Pulses," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B., Vol. 12, pp. 2192-2198, 1995.

Liu, J.M., Zhou, G. and Pyo, S.J., "Parametric Gain of the Generation and the Amplification of Ultrashort Optical Pulses," J. Opt. Soc. Am. B., Vol. 12, pp. 2274-2287, 1995.

Liu, J.M. and Simpson, T.B., "Four-Wave Mixing and Optical Modulation in a Semiconductor Laser," IEEE J. Quantum Electron, Vol. 30, pp. 957-965, 1994.