Vinod Sangwan
I am a Research Associate Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Northwestern University. I did a B. Tech. in Engineering Physics at the Indian Institute of Technology Mumbai and later, a Ph.D. in Physics at the University of Maryland College Park with Prof. Ellen D. Williams. My research at Northwestern University intersects multiple disciplines of applied physics, electrical engineering, and physical chemistry. Broadly, my research spans from growth and materials processing to the integration of high-performance scalable electronic and optoelectronic devices. Some major themes are electronics transport in low dimensional (0D, 1D, 2D) nanomaterials, optical processes in van der Waals heterojunctions, and quantifying morphology-performance relations in disordered systems and photovoltaics.

Currently, I am pursuing three main research topics, neuromorphic computing, heterojunctions, and topological quantum materials. In neuromorphic computing, we are specifically interested in exploring tunable nanosystems for hardware implementation that not only emulate bio-realistic neuronal/network behavior but also implement other energy-efficient computational primitives in small-scale circuits. Heterojunctions fall into two categories: van der Waals systems and bulk heterojunction organic photovoltaics and charge carrier processes are studied across broad energy and timescales using ultrafast and transient spectroscopy methods. In topological materials, I am specifically interested in studying and hopefully, controlling topological states using strong intersections with molecular electronic and spin systems. I try to balance research, mentoring, and professional services with my passion for reading and outdoor activities.