Contact Information
Title
Professor Emeritus
Dr. Hayden retired from the Physics Department in August 2024.
Education
Ph.D. Physics – University of California – Davis, 1987
M.S. Physics – University of California – Davis, 1984
B.S. Physics – United States Naval Academy, 1978
Previous Experience
I joined the faculty at UMBC in 1991 after service in the U. S. Navy as a Nuclear Propulsion Officer onboard nuclear submarines and after a short career in the Advanced Optical Interconnect group at Unisys Defense Systems.
Professional Interests
My research is generally focused on light-matter interactions, particularly on the sub-picosecond timescale. We are interested in developing and characterizing new materials useful for high-speed electronics and communications, terahertz (THz) emission and detection, and solar energy generation.
The main thrust of our current work uses an optical pump – THz probe technique called THz time-domain spectroscopy to study novel electronic materials ranging from 2D materials like transition metal di-chalcogenides (e.g., MoS2, WS2, WSe2, etc.) to thin-film organic semiconductors used in solar cells and organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs).
The laboratory uses several other nonlinear optical methods to characterize our samples such as second harmonic generation (SHG), electro-optic (EO) modulation, and optical parametric amplification (OPA). These methods rely heavily on ultra-short optical pulses generated by femtosecond laser systems.
Selected Publications
L. Michael Hayden’s publications and citations (Google Scholar)