Vien Van

Area of Study / Keywords

Electromagnetics and Microwaves Microsystems and Nanodevices Photonics and Plasmas

About

Dr. Van received a BASc degree in engineering physics from Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, and a PhD degree in electrical engineering from the University of Waterloo, Ontario. Dr. Van was the recipient of the NSERC Doctoral Prize in 2001. From 2000 to 2001, he was a research associate with the Laboratory for Physical Sciences, University of Maryland, College Park. After a brief period working in industry, he joined the University of Alberta in 2005 and is currently a Professor and Director (Electrical Engineering) in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Research

Dr. Van’s research interests include the design, simulation and fabrication of micro and nanophotonic devices and their applications in fibre optics communication, optical signal processing and optical sensing.

Current research

• Silicon photonics
• Nonlinear integrated optics
• Nanoplasmonics

ECE 452 - Computation for Nanoengineering

Introduction to advanced numerical methods such as finite-difference, finite-element and spectral-domain techniques for solving partial differential equations. Simulations of nanoscale systems involving multiphysics or coupled differential equations involving electron and thermal transport phenomena, electrodynamics, MEMS, and process simulation, graphical methods for 3D visualization of simulation data. Examples from applied areas of nanoengineering to demonstrate computational methods for understanding complex physical phenomena and for designing and simulating nanoscale devices and systems. Prerequisites: ECE 341 or MATH 309 or 311. Credit may be obtained in only one of ECE 452 or E E 445.

ECE 471 - Photonics I

Electromagnetic wave propagation at optical frequencies and approximations. Thermal and luminescent light sources, optical beams. Ray and Gaussian optics and simple optical components. Wave optics, polarization, interference, interferometric devices. Light-matter interactions. Optics of crystals; polarizers and waveplates. Photodetectors. Photonic engineering applications. Corequisite: ECE 370 or E E 315, or PHYS 381. Note: Only one of the following courses may be taken for credit: ECE 471, E E 471 or PHYS 362.

ECE 770 - Advanced Topics in Photonics and Plasmas

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