Leigh Morris Smith , PhD

personal webpage  Leigh Smith is a condensed matter experimentalist who looks at the electronic, phononic, and spin properties of semiconductors and semimetals.  His most recent work has been on Topological Insulators and Weyl Semimetals.

Ph.D.: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 1988

BA: University of Virginia Charlottesville, VA, 1982 (Physics and Mathematics with Highest Honors)

My main areas of interest lie in the physics of electronic states in semiconductor nanostructures:  cofinement potentials, wavefunctions, many body effects, and interactions with phonons, photons, or impurities.  A general theme of my research is to combine:

(a) ultrahigh spectral resolution: to determine the energetics of these states with micro-eV precision. 

(b) sub-micron spatial resolution: to isolate single quantum confined states, or measure the transport properties of neutral particles.

(c) picosecond temporal resolution: to measure the dynamics of interactions between these various states.

to achieve a more complete picture of these electronic states and their interactions. 

In particular, my research publications can be divided into several areas:  (1) semiconductor nanowire heterostructures, (2) quantum dots and their excitons, (3) exciton spins and magnetic impurities, (4) exciton transport and interactions with spins or phonons, (5) many-body effects in semiconductors. 

08-2016 -To Present Department Head, Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221

09-2001 -To Present Full Professor, Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221

09-1996 -09-2001 Associate Professor, Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221

09-1990 -09-1996 Assistant Professor, Department of Physics, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH 45221

Grant: #DMR-1726026 Investigators:Smith, Leigh 09-01-2017 -08-31-2020 National Science Foundation Collaborative Research: Resource and repository II: Extensions and improvements to funsizephysics Role:PI $13,328.00 Active Level:Federal

Grant: #AF# 1073 (affil NSF DMR-1531593) Investigators:Angelopoulos, Anastasios; Guliants, Vadim; Heineman, William; Jackson, Howard; Schulz, Mark; Shanov, Vesselin; Smith, Leigh; Vasudevan, Vijay; Zhang, Peng 09-01-2015 -08-31-2018 Ohio Board of Regents MRI: Acquisition of a Ultra-High Resolution Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education Role:Collaborator $113,934.00 Awarded Level:State of Ohio

Grant: #DMR-1550681 Investigators:Smith, Leigh 09-01-2015 -08-31-2017 National Science Foundation Collaborative Research: RESOURCE AND REPOSITORY: BROADER IMPACTS OF THE NSF-CMP PROGRAM Role:PI $8,067.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #DMR-1531593 Investigators:Angelopoulos, Anastasios; Guliants, Vadim; Heineman, William; Jackson, Howard; Schulz, Mark; Shanov, Vesselin; Smith, Leigh; Vasudevan, Vijay; Zhang, Peng 09-01-2015 -08-31-2018 National Science Foundation MRI: Acquisition of a High Resolution Analytical Scanning Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education Role:Collaborator $531,693.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #OBR Action Fund #1071 (NSF DMR-1531373) Investigators:Jackson, Howard; Smith, Leigh 08-15-2015 -08-14-2017 Ohio Board of Regents NSF- MRI: Deveopment of a Mid-Infrared Optical Microscope for Investigation of Femtosecond Dnamics in Single Large SPin-Orbit Semiconductor Nanostructure. Role:PI $100,900.00 Awarded Level:State of Ohio

Grant: #DMR-1507844 Investigators:Jackson, Howard; Smith, Leigh 08-15-2015 -07-31-2018 National Science Foundation Carrier and Spin Dynamics in Large Spin-Orbit Semiconductor Nanowire Heterostructures Role:PI $489,551.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #DMR-1531373 Investigators:Jackson, Howard; Smith, Leigh 08-15-2015 -07-31-2017 National Science Foundation MRI: Development of a Mid-Infrared Optical Microscope for Investigation of Femtosecond Dnamics in Single Large Spin-Orbit Semiconductor Nanostructures Role:PI $470,863.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #ECCS-1509706 Investigators:Jackson, Howard; Smith, Leigh 07-01-2015 -06-30-2018 National Science Foundation GOALI: Infrared Detection Using Antimonide Nanowire Heterostructure Arrays Role:PI $400,000.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #RY25-UC-19-7-AFRL2 Investigators:Smith, Leigh 09-01-2019 -11-30-2020 Air Force Research Laboratory Optical Properties of Topological Materials (AFRL funds for Sam Lisner) Role:PI $63,056.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #FA9550-20-1-0218 Investigators:Angelopoulos, Anastasios; Guliants, Vadim; Jha, Rashmi; Shanov, Vesselin; Shi, Jing; Smith, Leigh; Steiner, Matthew; Vasudevan, Vijay; White, Ryan; Zhang, Peng 09-01-2020 -08-31-2021 Air Force Office of Scientific Research Acquisition of an Analytical High-Resolution Scanning/Transmission Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education Role:Collaborator $500,000.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Grant: #AF 1677 Investigators:Angelopoulos, Anastasios; Guliants, Vadim; Jha, Rashmi; Shanov, Vesselin; Shi, Jing; Smith, Leigh; Steiner, Matthew; Vasudevan, Vijay; White, Ryan; Zhang, Peng 09-01-2020 -08-31-2021 Ohio Department of Higher Education Acquisition of an Analytical High-Resolution Scanning/Transmission Electron Microscope for Multidisciplinary Research and Education Role:Collaborator $237,500.00 Awarded Level:State of Ohio

Grant: #DMR-2048981 Investigators:Smith, Leigh 04-01-2022 -03-31-2025 National Science Foundation Collaborative Research: Funsize Physics Version 3: PAST ACHIEVEMENTS, LESSONS LEARNT AND THE WAY FORWARD Role:PI 78462.00 Awarded Level:Federal

Peer Reviewed Publications

Strong Hot Carrier Effects Observed in a Single Nanowire Heterostructure, I.A. Shojaei, S. Linser, G. Jnawali, H.E. Jackson, L.M. Smith, X. Yuan, P. Caroff, H.H. Tan and C. Jagadish, arXiv:1810.12516 (2018).

Revealing Optical Transitions and Carrier Recombination Dynamics within the Bulk Band Structure of Bi2Se3, G. Jnawali, S. Linser, I.A. Shojaei, S. Pournia, H.E.Jackson, L.M. Smith, R.F. Need and S.D. Wilson, Nano Letters 18, 5875-5884 (2018).

Doping Enhanced Radiative Efficiency Enables Lasing in Unpassivated GaAs Nanowires, Tim Burgess, Dhruv Saxena, Sudha Mokkapati, Zhe Li, Christopher Hall, Jeffery Davis, Yuda Wang, Leigh M. Smith, Lan Fu, Philippe Caroff, Hark Hoe Tan and Chennupati Jagadish, Nature Communications 7, 11927 (2016).

Thermal delocalization of Excitons in GaAs/AlGaAs Quantum Well Tube Nanowires Teng Shi, Howard E. Jackson, Leigh M. Smith, Nian Jiang, H. Hoe Tan, and Chennupati Jagadish, Nano Letters 16 1392-1397 (2016). 

Department of Physics, ML-0011
345 Clifton Court
Cincinnati  Ohio, 45221-0011
Phone: 513-556-0457
Fax: 513-556-3425
leigh.smith@uc.edu