Cavity optomechanics with optically trapped particles 

    Mestres Junqué, Pau (Date of defense: 2017-09-07)

    Optical trapping and manipulation have emerged as powerful tools to investigate single microscopic objects in a controlled environment. Using the momentum carried by light, forces can be exerted to confine and manipulate ...

    Environmentally friendly nanocrystals synthesized and processed in ambient conditions for solution-processed solar cells 

    Akgul, M. Zafer (Date of defense: 2021-02-11)

    Due to the continuously increasing energy demand and the environmental concerns about climate changes raised by international community, alternative energy resources have been put under intense investigation for the past ...

    Local temperature and correlations in quantum many-body systems 

    Hernández Santana, Senaida (Date of defense: 2019-04-12)

    Quantum Mechanics was established as the theory of the microscopic world, which allowed to understand processes in atoms and molecules. Its emergence led to a new scientific paradigm that quickly spread to different research ...

    N-type bismuth sulfide coloidal nanocrystals and their application to solution-processed photovoltaic devices 

    Martínez Montblanch, Luis (Date of defense: 2014-10-31)

    Durante las últimas décadas, la energía solar fotovoltaica se ha convertido en una tecnología de creciente importancia para satisfacer las necesidades energéticas actuales sin sacrificar las futuras generaciones. Las células ...

    Novel pulsed optical parametric sources in the mid-infrared and the application towards high-resolution molecular spectroscopy 

    Ye, Hanyu (Date of defense: 2019-05-03)

    The mid-infrared (mid-IR) spectral region coincides with fundamental rotational-vibrational transitions of a large number of molecules in the gas phase. The strong interaction between mid-IR light sources and these gaseous ...

    Photodetectors based on graphene pn-junctions for mid-infrared and terahertz range 

    Castilla, Sebastián (Date of defense: 2022-01-27)

    Long wavelength light contains the infrared and terahertz (THz) spetral range of the spectrum. This wavelength range spans approximately from 1 µm to 1 mm. Several applications can be explored in this spectral range such ...

    Photon control in nano-structured organic photovoltaic materials 

    Betancur Lopera, Rafael (Date of defense: 2013-07-10)

    Organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology has emerged as a potential cost-effective solution to produce electrical energy. The foreseen low manufacturing costs combined with features as semi-transparency or mechanical flexibility ...

    Quantifying nanoscale carrier diffusion with ultrafast optical and photocurrent microscopy 

    Block, Alexander (Date of defense: 2019-09-06)

    Heat transport in solids is one of the oldest problems in physics, dating back to the earliest formulations of thermodynamics. The classical laws of heat conduction are valid as long as the observed time and length scales ...

    Thermodynamics and quantum correlations 

    Perarnau Llobet, Martí (Date of defense: 2016-06-06)

    Thermodynamics traditionally deals with macroscopic systems at thermal equilibrium. However, since the very beginning of the theory, its range of applicability has only increased, nowadays being applied to virtually every ...

    Toward next-generation nanophotonic devices 

    Yu, Renwen (Date of defense: 2019-07-11)

    In this thesis, we aim to explore several novel designs of nanostructures based on graphene to realize various functionalities. We briefly introduce the fundamental concepts and theoretical models used in this thesis in ...