S. James Allen, current Chair of the UCSB Physics Department, received a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from M.I.T. in 1965.  He was appointed Professor of  Physics and Director of the Quantum Institute at UCSB in 1991.Prior to that, he had been a member of technical staff at Bell Labs, where he was recognized as a “Distinguished Member of Technical Staff” and availed himself of a Bell Labs supported leave at the Royal School of Mines , Imperial College London.  Later he joined Bellcore, as District Research Manager of Solid State Physics Research.  He has also been an adjunct professor at Northeastern University and at Princeton University.   Professional service has included election as Member at Large of the Executive Committee of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics of the A.P.S. where he served on the Strategic Planning Committee and on the Nominating Committee.  He has also served on the Editorial Board of Physical Review.  In 1995 he won a Humboldt Senior Science Award and is a Fellow of the American Physical Society.

He has co-authored more than 180 publications on transport and terahertz excitations in semiconductor nano-structures, hot-electron dynamics, high temperature superconductivity, magnetism, superionic conductors, metal physics and clathrate inclusion compounds. He holds three patents.  Current research focuses on terahertz dynamics in semiconductor quantum structures far from equilibrium, phase coherent transport in superconductor- semiconductor heterostructures and magneto-electronics and spintronics in novel magnetic semimetal-semiconductor heterostructures. 

Recent publications

Areas of Research:

Research using the UCSB Free Electron Lasers

 

Towards a Terahertz Solid State Oscillator, A presentation in July 2000, Bonas France.

                            Project Updates and Activity

                                      DARPA: Terahertz Technology Sensing and Satellite Communication  

 

            See Xomalin Peralta

                                    Terahertz photoconductivity and plasmon modes in double quantum well field effect transistors

           See Naser Qureshi
 

Semiconductor - Superconductor Heterostructures

 

Non-equilibrium superconductivity in Nb-InAs-Nb junctions

 

 

 
 
 

At high frequencies and relatively high temperature, the AC Josephson effect in a mesoscopic Nb-InAs-Nb, superconductor-normal-superconductor, junction is dominated by a Shapiro step corresponding to twice the Josephson frequency. This is a result of non-equilibrium, mesoscopic, superconductivity.

See Konrad Lehnert's page

 

Magnetic, Semi-metal, Semiconductor Heterostructures

 

Magnetization Controlled Transport: Resonant Tunneling Through a Magnetic, Semimetal Quantum Well

 

 

Magnetization Controlled Transport: Giant Negative Magneto-resistance in ErAs/GaAs Nanocomposites

 

See Dan Schmidt's page

 

Conductance Fluctuations and Magnetism in Mesoscopic ErAs Wires

 

Terahertz Harmonic Generation in Semi-metal / Semi-conductor Nanocomposites

 

Recent publications