MPL's reputation includes its strong research funding history, collaborations with top-level universities and industrial
laboratories, and especially the frequency at which MPL-trained graduate students are hired away to high paying industrial positions even before
finishing their PhDs. The MPL alone has generated fifteen million in external funding since its founding in 1982. Its funding sources include DARPA,
Army Research Laboratories, ONR, DOE, Hughes, U.S. Air Force, Rockwell International, Lockheed-Martin, Raytheon/TI Systems, and
Northrup-Grumman. In addition, several small business grants have been awarded to EPIR Ltd., a spin-off of the MPL.
The activities of the laboratory are devoted primarily to the growth, characterization and modeling of heterostructures made with semiconducting
materials such as Hg-based semiconducting alloys and/or superlattices deposited on GaAs or Si substrates with CdTe and CdZnTe buffer layers,
ZnSe and related wide gap II-VI materials, and III-V semiconducting materials.
The MPL developed the techniques and provided the first demonstrating the growth of MCT by molecular beam epitaxy. These innovations
have resulted in the production of extremely high quality and precise MCT crystals, which are necessary for the fabrication of MCT-based infrared detectors.
Important examples of MCT-based technology were demonstrated during the Gulf War, where USA established superiority with the use of self
guided missiles. In these missiles, the key function of imaging the enemy target, irrespective of the weather, day or night, is done by MCT focal plane arrays.
Medical applications include noninvasive tumor sensing, and the development of novel x-ray detector arrays based in cadmium zinc telluride which
promise to provide high resolution diagnostic x–ray images. Pollution monitoring applications include the cost-effective remote detection of common
pollutants such as CO, NO, and SO2. The all-weather and night vision characteristics of MCT-based infrared detectors make them ideally suited for
remote imaging from satellites, for example in weather prediction, or terrestrial vehicles, such as providing aircraft pilots with ground images during poor
weather or night time take-off and landing.
In addition to its illustrious research accomplishments, the MPL has established an innovative teaching program. This includes undergraduate research
activity throughout the year, with eight undergraduates currently participating. It has given high school students their first exposure to fundamental research
and high technology. It has also played an active role in the University of Illinois Math and Science Outreach program. Undergraduate students trained at
MPL have been recognized by national research laboratories for their valuable contributions, understanding and enthusiasm in research.
