Rui Q. Yang received the B.Sc. degree in physics from Zhejiang University in 1982, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in physics from Nanjing University in 1984 and 1987, respectively.
Yang is the inventor of interband cascade (IC) lasers with research activities ranging from condensed matter physics to semiconductor quantum devices such as tunneling diodes, mid-infrared lasers and detectors, photovoltaic devices for converting infrared light to electricity. Prior to joining the University of Oklahoma (OU) in 2007, he was a Principal Member of Engineering Staff and a Task Manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, where he led the development of advanced mid-infrared interband cascade lasers for applications in Earth sciences and planetary explorations. He received the Edward Stone Award in 2007 from JPL for outstanding research publication and the successful accelerated infusion of cutting-edge interband cascade semiconductor laser technology into flight mission readiness. The lasers that he invented and developed with his colleagues at JPL have been selected for NASA flight mission to Mars. He has authored/co-authored more than 110 refereed journal articles and two book chapters with 4 patents. In addition, he has over 200 conference contributions, invited seminars, and talks.
His group at OU is working on exploring quantum engineered semiconductor structures in sub-nanometer scale for realizing functional devices and sub-systems with support from NSF, DoD, and DoE. In collaboration with researchers in other groups/institution, his group has demonstrated the world-first Plasmon-waveguide IC lasers at wavelengths near 6 and 7.5 microns, superlattice interband cascade photodetectors, and interband cascade photovoltaic devices for energy conversion.
