UMass Boston

Gang Sun, Professor, Engineering

Greg Sun

Department:
Engineering
Title:
Professor
Location:
McCormack Hall Floor 03
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Biography

After earning his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1993, Greg Sun joined the faculty at Mass Boston where he is currently a professor of Electrical Engineering. He played a key role in establishing the first publicly supported Engineering Program in the City of Boston, serving as the founding Chair of the Department of Engineering from 2014 to 2023. He is a Fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) and the American Physical Society (APS).

Area of Expertise

Silicon photonics: Silicon based photonic devices and systems, including lasers, LEDs, and IR detectors, waveguides and SiGeSn-based devices

Novel materials and structures: Group-IV, III-V and II-VI systems, quantum wells, quantum dots, optical waveguides

Quantum processes: Carrier scattering and transport, phonon dynamics and engineering, band-to-band and intersubband transitions in semiconductor structures

Semiconductor opto-electronics: Emitters and photodetectors spanning UV to far infrared including conventional lasers and quantum cascade lasers

Nano-photonics: Surface plasmon enhanced optical processes and devices with the use of subwavelength metal structures

Degrees

Ph.D. Electrical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, 1993

M.S. Electrical Engineering, Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1988

B.S. Microelectronics, Beijing University, Beijing, China, 1984

Professional Publications & Contributions
  • Ghosh, G. Sun, S.-Q. Yu, G.-E. Chang, "Impact of carrier momentum (k)-space separation on GeSn infrared photodetectors," invited paper, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 31, 3800211 (2025)
  • -E. Chang, S.-Q. Yu, G. Sun, "GeSn Rule-23 - the Performance Limit of GeSn Infrared Photodiodes," Sensors 23, 7386 (2023)
  • Ghosh, G. Sun, T. A. Morgan, G. T. Forcherio, H. H. Cheng, and G.-E. Chang, "Dark Current Analysis on GeSn p-i-n Photodetectors," Sensors 23, 7531 (2023)
  • Wang, C. Fu, G. Sun, M. A. Gharbi, and C. S Yelleswarapu, "Plasmon enhancement of third-order nonlinear optical absorption of gold nanoparticles dispersed in planar oriented nematic liquid crystals, Nanotechnology 34, 365205 (2023)
  • Sun, R. A. Soref, J. B. Khurgin, S.-Q. Yu and G.-E. Chang, "Longwave IR Lattice Matched L-Valley Ge/GeSiSn Waveguide Quantum Cascade Detector," Optics Express 30, 42385-42393 (2022)
  • Ghosh, R. Bansal, G. Sun, R. A. Soref, H.-H. Cheng, and G.-E. Chang "Design and Optimization of GeSn Waveguide Photodetectors for 2-µm Band Silicon Photonics," Sensors 22, 3978 (2022)
  • Chang, H.-H. Cheng, G. A Sevison , J. R. Hendrickson , Z. Li , I. Agha , J. Mathews , R. A. Soref , and G. Sun "Power-Dependent Investigation of Photo-Response from GeSn-Based p-i-n Photodetector Operating at High Power Density," Materials 15, 989 (2022)
  • Zhou, S. Ojo, C.-W. Wu, Y. Miao, H. Tran, J. M. Grant, G. Abernathy, S. Amoah, J. Bass, O. Olorunsola, G. Salamo, W. Du, G.-E. Chang, J. Liu, J. Margetis, J. Tolle, Y.-H. Zhang, G. Sun, R. Soref, B. Li, S.-Q. Yu, "Electrically injected GeSn lasers with peak wavelength up to 2.7 µm," Photonics Research 10,222-229 (2022)
  • -E. Chang, S.-Q. Yu, J. Liu, H. H. Cheng, R. A. Soref, and G. Sun, "Achievable performance of uncooled homojunction GeSn mid-infrared photodetectors", IEEE Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 28, 1-11 (2021)
  • -Y. Chang, R. Bansal, K.-C. Lee, G. Sun, R. Soref, H. H. Cheng, and G.-E. Chang, "Planar GeSn lateral p-i-n resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors for short-wave infrared integrated photonics," Optics Letters 46, 3316-3319 (2021)
  • -D. Hsieh, J.-H. Lin, R. A. Soref, G. Sun, H. H. Cheng, and G.-E Chang "Electro-absorption modulation in GeSn alloys for wide-spectrum mid-infrared applications," Communications Materials 2, 40 (2021)
  • Li, Z. Song, Z. Li, G. Sun, C. S. Tan, W. Fan, and Q. J. Wang, "Theoretical design of mid-infrared interband cascade lasers in SiGeSn system," New Journal of Physics 22, 083061 (2020)
  • C. Lee, M.-X. Lin, H. Li, H. Cheng, G. Sun, R. Soref, J. Hendrickson, K.-M. Hung, P. Scajev, and A. Medvids, "Planar GeSn photodiode for high-detectivity photodetection at 1550 nm," Applied Physics Letters 117, 012102 (2020)
  • Zhou, Y. Miao, S. Ojo, H. Tran, G. Abernathy, S. Amoah, J. Margetis, G. Salamo, W. Du, J. Liu, Y.-H. Zhang, J. Tolle, G. Sun, R. A. Soref, B Li, and S.-Q. Yu, "Electrically injected GeSn lasers on Si operating up to 100 K," Optica 7, 924-928 (2020)
  • -H. Tsai, B.-J. Huang, R. A. Soref, G. Sun, H. H. Cheng, and G.-E. Chang, "GeSn resonant-cavity-enhanced photodetectors for efficient photodetection at the 2μm wavelength band," Optics Letters 45, 1463-1466 (2020)
  • -C. Shen, Y.-T. Huang, T. L. Chung, M. L. Tseng, W.-Y. Tsai, G. Sun, and D. P. Tsai, "Giant efficiency of visible second-harmonic light by all-dielectric multiple quantum-well metasurface," Physical Review Applied 12, 064056 (2019)
  • Song, W. Fan, C. S. Tan, Q. Wang, D. Nam, D. H. Zhang, and G. Sun, "Band structure of strained Ge1-xSnx alloy: a full-zone 30-band k·p model," IEEE Journal of Quantum Electronics 56, 7100208 (2019)
  • Tran, T. Pham, J. Margetis, Y. Zhou, W. Dou, P. Grant, S. Al-Kabi, J. Grant, G. Sun, R. Soref, J. Tolle, Y.-H. Zhang, W. Du, B. Li, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "Si-based GeSn photodetectors towards mid-infrared imaging applications," ACS Photonics, 6, 2807−2815 (2019)
  • Song, W. Fan, C. Tan, Q. Wang, D. Nam, D. Zhang, and G. Sun, "Band structure of Ge1−xSnx alloy: a full-zone 30-band k·p model," New Journal of Physics 21 073037 (2019)
  • Zhou, W. Dou, W. Du, S. Ojo, H. Tran, S. A. Ghetmiri, J. Liu, G. Sun, R. Soref, J. Margetis, J. Tolle, B. Li, Z. Chen, M. Mortazavi, S.-Q. Yu, "Optically pumped GeSn lasers operating at 270 K with broad waveguide structures on Si," ACS Photonics 6, 1434-1441 (2019)
  • -J. Huang, C.-Y. Chang, Y.-D. Hsieh, R. Soref, G. Sun, H. H. Cheng and G.-E. Chang, "Electrically-injected GeSn vertical-cavity surface emitters on silicon-on-insulator platforms," ACS Photonics 6, 1931-1938 (2019)
  • Liu, C. Silien, G. Sun, and B. Corbett, "Low loss photonic nanocavity via dark magnetic dipole resonant mode near metal," Scientific Reports 8, 17054 (2018)
  • -Y. Tsai, T. L. Chung, H.-H. Hsiao, P. C. Wu, J.-W. Chen, R. J. Lin, G. Sun, C.-M. Wang, H. Misawa and D. P. Tsai, "Second harmonic light manipulation with vertical split ring resonators," Advanced Materials 31, 1806479 (2018)
  • Margetis, Y. Zhou, W. Dou, P. Grant, B. Alharthi, W. Du, A. Wadsworth, Q. Guo, H. Tran, S. Ojo, G. Abernathy, A. Mosleh, S. A. Ghetmiri, G. Thompson, J. Liu, G. Sun, R. Soref, J. Tolle, B. Li, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "All group-IV SiGeSn/GeSn/SiGeSn QW laser on Si operating up to 90 K," Applied Physics Letters 113, 221104 (2018)
  • Dou, Y. Zhou, J. Margetis, S. A. Ghetmiri, S. Al-Kabi, W. Du, J. Liu, G. Sun, R. A. Soref, J. Tolle, B. Li, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "Optically pumped lasing at 3 µm from compositionally graded GeSn with Sn up to 22.3%," Optics Letters 43, 4558-4561 (2018)
  • L. Tseng, H.-H. Hsiao, C. H. Chu, M. K. Chen, G. Sun, A.-Q. Liu and D. P. Tsai, "Metalenses: advances and applications," invited review article, Advanced Optical Materials 6, 1800554 (2018)
  • Grant, J. Margetis, W. Du, Y. Zhou, W. Dou, G. Abernathy, A. Kuchuk, B. Li, J. Tolle, J. Liu, G. Sun, R. Soref, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "Study of direct bandgap type-I GeSn/GeSn double quantum well with improved carrier confinement," Nanotechnology 29, 465201 (2018)
  • Kawata, G. Sun, D. P. Tsai, and A. Zayats, "The Special Issue on Recent Developments and Applications of Plasmonics," Editorial, ACS Photonics 5, 2538–2540 (2018)
  • T. Hsieh, P. C. Wu, J. B. Khurgin, D. P. Tsai, N. Liu, and G. Sun, "Comparative analysis of metals and alternative infrared plasmonic materials," Perspective, ACS Photonics 5, 2541–2548 (2018)
  • Tran, T. Pham, W. Du, Y. Zhang, P. C. Grant, J. Grant, G. Sun, R. A. Soref, J. Margetis, J. Tolle, B. Li, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "High performance Ge0.89Sn0.11 photodiode for low-cost shortwave infrared imaging," Journal of Applied Physics, 124, 013101 (2018)
  • -C. Su, C. H. Chu, G. Sun, and D. P. Tsai, "Advances in optical metasurface: fabrication and applications," invited review article, Optics Express 26, 13148-13182 (2018) highlighted as Editor's Pick
  • Grant, J. Margetis, Y. Zhou, W. Dou, G. Abernathy, A. Kuchuk, W. Du, B. Li, J. Tolle, J. Liu, G. Sun, R. A. Soref, M. Mortazavi, and S.-Q. Yu, "Direct bandgap type-I GeSn/GeSn quantum well on a GeSn- and Ge-buffered Si substrate," AIP Advances, 8, 025104 (2018)
  • Margetis, S. Al-Kabi, W. Du, W. Dou, Y. Zhou, T. Pham, P.

Additional Information

Dr. Sun's research focuses on semiconductor optoelectronics, silicon photonics, and nano-plasmonics. He has published over 150 papers in refereed journals and book chapters, delivered more than 160 invited and contributed conference presentations, and presented over 50 seminars and colloquia. His work has been cited more than 11,450 times, with an H-index of 57 according to Google Scholar (as of December 2024). He is a Fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America) and the American Physical Society (APS).

In addition to his research, Dr. Sun has held visiting professor positions at National Taiwan University, National Cheng Kung University, and Academia Sinica in Taiwan. He has made significant contributions to numerous international technical conferences and workshops, serving on various technical and advisory committees. He has also served as an associate and guest editor for several academic journals. Currently, he is the Deputy Editor of Journal of Lightwave Technology, a biweekly peer-reviewed journal covering optical guided-wave science, technology, and engineering, published jointly by the Optical Society and the IEEE Photonics Society.