Charge Carrier $-$ Defect Interactions

I am very interested in developing methods to model carrier-defect interactions, in order to understand carrier dynamics in realistic systems. My PhD thesis focussed on modelling carrier scattering by N-induced defect states in dilute nitride semiconductors, so this research project is one I have been involved with for quite a while. Electrons or holes can be mobile in a system and be scattered by defects, or may become trapped. Moreover, excitations involving electrons trapped at defects result in many measurable phenomena using spectroscopic techniques. Modelling such processes can be achieved using a variety of techniques of differing complexity and accuracy. Finding optimum approaches and developing the methodology is something I am actively working on. It combines all the problems of modelling defects effectively, modelling electronic structure accurately and finding tractable approaches for electron-ion interactions and optoelectronic processes. Fun!