Luke F. Lester

Luke F. Lester
Professor

Honors and Distinctions:
Associate Director, Center for High Technology Materials

Contact Information:
(505) 272-7868
luke@chtm.unm.edu
faculty website

Degrees: PhD Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, 1992 BS Engineering Physics, Cornell University, 1984

Luke Lester has five U.S. and international patents and one patent pending in the fields of quantum dot “DWELL” technology and midinfrared semiconductor laser technology.

He teaches courses in optoelectronics, semiconductor lasers, semiconductor physics, microelectronics processing, and semiconductor materials and devices, and he currently serves as major advisor to ten students. He is the co-chair of the Optical Science and Engineering program at UNM.

He contributed to quantum-dot research that led to the development of a semiconductor laser with a lower threshold current, purer signal, and wider-wavelength range of operation than any other existing semiconductor laser. In 2001 he co-founded Zia Laser, Inc. to commercialize this technology and served as the company’s chief technical officer for two years. The company was purchased by Innolume GmbH in November 2006.

Promoted by ECE to full professor in 2007, Dr. Lester received ECE’s Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007 and the School of Engineering’s Junior Faculty Research Award in 1997.

Dr. Lester received a UNM University Libraries faculty acknowledgement award in 2006 “for his scholarly achievement and exemplary contributions to the School of Engineering.” He was also awarded an Air Force Summer Faculty Fellowship in 2006 and 2007.

A senior member of IEEE, Dr. Lester has published more than 150 journal articles, conference presentations and invited papers, and his work is estimated to have at least 1,800 citations.

Representative Publications
• G. T. Liu, A. Stintz, H. Li, T.C. Newell, A.L. Gray, P. M. Varangis, K. J. Malloy, and L.F. Lester, “The Influence of Quantum-Well Composition on the Performance of Quantum Dot Lasers Using InAs/InGaAs Dots-in-a-Well (DWELL) Structures,” IEEE J. Quantum Electron., 36, 1272-1279 (2000) • Y. C. Xin, Y. Li, V. Kovanis, A. L. Gray, L. Zhang, and L. F. Lester, “Reconfigurable Quantum dot Monolithic Multi-Section Passive Mode-Locked Lasers,” Optics Express 15(12), pp. 7623-7633 (2007) • R. B. Laghumavarapu, M. El-Emawy, N. Nuntawong, A. Moscho, L. F. Lester, and D. L. Huffaker, “Improved device performance of InAs/ GaAs quantum dot solar cells with GaP strain compensation layers,” Appl. Phys. Lett. 91(24) 243115 (2007)