Organic Materials Architectured for Researching Vibronic Excitations with Light in the Infrared (MARVEL-IR)

Project Personnel

Jason Azoulay

Principal Investigator

Georgia Institute of Technology

Guoxiang (Emma) Hu

Co-PI

Georgia Institute of Technology

Jarrett Vella

Co-PI

Air Force Research Laboratory

Philippe Berrourad

Co-PI

Brilliant Matters

Matthew Sfeir

Co-PI

CUNY Advanced Science Research Center

Tse Nga Ng

Co-PI

University of California, San Diego

Bryan Wong

Co-PI

University of California Riverside

Funding Divisions

Technology, Innovation and Partnerships (TIP), Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Division Of Materials Research (DMR)

The detection of infrared (IR) light underpins modern science, technology, and society in profound ways, permitting the observation of objects and information that are invisible to conventional detectors, imagers, and cameras. However, despite decades of development, current IR semiconductors possess numerous drawbacks that limit their widespread use and the development of critical emerging technologies. This project will investigate completely new light-matter interactions, theoretical and computational approaches, novel polymer semiconductors with tailored electronic structures, and devices to enable optical to electrical transduction of IR light, a fundamentally new capability for organic materials. These materials and devices will satisfy the functional and economic requirements for technologies that can address critical national needs with global societal impacts in climate change, manufacturing, energy, healthcare, information science, consumer applications, future aerospace and defense-wide applications, and many others. New theoretical, synthetic, characterization, and device advances will coalesce with Air Force Research Labs and industry partnerships to produce new materials and devices for technology transfer. Workforce development efforts will focus on multidisciplinary education through co-mentorship, industry and Department of Defense interactions, outreach to underrepresented high school and undergraduate students, and professional development actives for research and leadership training.

Publications

Radiation Hardened Infrared Photodetectors Based on a Narrow Bandgap Conjugated Polymer Semiconductor
A. R. Benasco, C. Liu, B. Rax, G. Mariani, S. McClure, T. Bills, S. D. Gupta, M. I. Vakil, S. Nikodemski, J. H. Vella, and J. D. Azoulay
5/2/2025
Long-Range Resonant Charge Transport through Open-Shell Donor–Acceptor Macromolecules
S. Shen, M. Shiri, P. Mahalingam, C. Tang, T. Bills, A. J. Bushnell, T. A. Balandin, L. Mejía, H. Zhang, B. Xu, I. Franco, J. D. Azoulay, and K. Wang
5/1/2025
Mobility‐Lifetime Products in Organic Infrared Photodiodes with Peak Absorption at 1550 nm
B. Seo, T. Bills, P. Mahalingavelar, W. Kim, H. J. Eun, J. H. Kim, J. D. Azoulay, and T. N. Ng
2/2/2025
Electronic Structures and Spectra of Donor–Acceptor Conjugated Oligomers
K. A. Nguyen, R. Pachter, L. M. Loftus, G. Hong, P. N. Day, J. D. Azoulay, and T. A. Grusenmeyer
10/11/2024
A General Strategy for Enhancing Sensitivity and Suppressing Noise in Infrared Organic Photodetectors Using Non‐Conjugated Polymer Additives
T. Bills, C. Liu, J. Lim, N. Eedugurala, P. Mahalingavelar, B. Seo, E. T. Hanna, T. N. Ng, and J. D. Azoulay
2/19/2024
Bias Dependence of Organic-Oxide Phototransistors with Peak Infrared Absorption at 1550 nm
B. Seo, J. Chung, N. Eedugurala, J. D. Azoulay, H. J. Kim, and T. N. Ng
11/13/2023

View All Publications

Research Highlights

Radiation Hardened Infrared Photodetectors
Jason D. Azoulay (Georgia Tech.); Jarrett H. Vella (AFRL)
11/13/2025
Energy Transfer Mechanisms in Large Low-bandgap Polymers
M. Y. Sfeir and J. D. Azoulay (Georgia Tech.) B. M. Wong (U. CA – Riverside)
11/13/2025

Designing Materials to Revolutionize and Engineer our Future (DMREF)