Songrui Zhao, McGill University

Research

Molecular beam epitaxy Aluminum gallium nitride Indium gallium nitride Laser diodes Light emitting devices Photonic crystals Semiconductor nanowires Sensing

Latest papers

Nanowire photodetectors: path to single physical artificial neurons.
Nanoscale · 2026 · senior author
III-nitride semiconductor nanowires: recent advances in molecular beam epitaxy and optoelectronic devices.
Nanotechnology · 2026 · first author
Real-Time, Dual-Physical-Layer Encryption Directly within an Optical Sensor on a Silicon Platform.
ACS applied materials & interfaces · 2025 · senior author

All 17 publications

Latest funding

Effusion sources for epitaxial growth of low-dimensional heterostructures
NSERC · 2025 · Co-investigator
$99,838
GaN nanophotonics for light emitting and communication
NSERC · 2023 · Principal investigator
$600,000
Global Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) Center
NSERC · 2023 · Co-investigator
$1,253,225

All 6 grants and awards

17 publications.

01

Nanowire photodetectors: path to single physical artificial neurons.

Chen Y, Fathabadi M, Vafadar MF, Zhao S

Nanoscale2026Senior author

DOI: 10.1039/d6nr00513f PMID: 41966109

02

III-nitride semiconductor nanowires: recent advances in molecular beam epitaxy and optoelectronic devices.

Zhao S

Nanotechnology2026First author

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ae3832 PMID: 41534109

03

Real-Time, Dual-Physical-Layer Encryption Directly within an Optical Sensor on a Silicon Platform.

Chen Y, Vafadar MF, Fathabadi M, Li S, Arora K, Zhao S

ACS applied materials & interfaces2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1021/acsami.5c00535 PMID: 40310757

04

Scandium-III-nitrides: A New Material Platform for Semiconductor Photocatalysts with High Reducing Power.

Fathabadi M, Vafadar MF, Ni S, Zhao Y, Song J, Li CJ, Zhao S

Nano letters2025Senior author

DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.4c05065 PMID: 39812149

05

Electrical Doping in Sc-III-Nitrides: Toward Multifunctional Devices at the Single Device Level.

Fathabadi M, Vafadar MF, Lamanque JC, Zhao S

Small (Weinheim an der Bergstrasse, Germany)2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1002/smll.202407277 PMID: 39449236

06

Architecture for Surface-Emitting Lasers with On-Demand Lasing Wavelength by Nanowire Optical Cavities.

Vafadar MF, Zhao S

ACS nano2024Senior author

DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.3c13186 PMID: 38767588

07

Facile Semiconductor p-n Homojunction Nanowires with Strategic p-Type Doping Engineering Combined with Surface Reconstruction for Biosensing Applications.

Li L, Fang S, Chen W, Li Y, Vafadar MF, Wang D, Kang Y, Liu X, Luo Y, Liang K, Dang Y, Zhao L, Zhao S, Yin Z, Sun H

Nano-micro letters2024

DOI: 10.1007/s40820-024-01394-5 PMID: 38743197

08

Ultralow threshold surface emitting ultraviolet lasers with semiconductor nanowires.

Vafadar MF, Zhao S

Scientific reports2023Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-33457-9 PMID: 37095158

09

Vertical semiconductor deep ultraviolet light emitting diodes on a nanowire-assisted aluminum nitride buffer layer.

Zhang Q, Parimoo H, Martel E, Zhao S

Scientific reports2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-11246-0 PMID: 35508615

10

Field emission from AlGaN nanowires with low turn-on field.

Giubileo F, Bartolomeo AD, Zhong Y, Zhao S, Passacantando M

Nanotechnology2020

DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/abaf22 PMID: 32885788

Effusion sources for epitaxial growth of low-dimensional heterostructures

Co-investigatorNSERC2025Research Tools and Instruments

Principal investigators: Szkopek, Thomas

Keywords: nanoelectronics; nanophotonics; 2d materials; graphene; light emitting diodes; ultra violet photonics; semiconductor heterostructures; molecular beam epitaxy; van der waals heterostructures; ion sensors

$99,838

GaN nanophotonics for light emitting and communication

Principal investigatorNSERC2023Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Zhao, Songrui S

Keywords: communication; display; gan; light-emitting diodes; nanophotonics; nanowires

$600,000

Global Hydrogen Production Technologies (HyPT) Center

Co-investigatorNSERC2023Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Thomson, Murray MJ

Keywords: electrolysis; energy; fuel; hydrogen; methane pyrolysis; photocatalysis; policy; water

$1,253,225

Sustainable, human-safe, and compact deep ultraviolet light sources

Principal investigatorNSERC2021Alliance Grants

Principal investigators: Zhao, Songrui S

Keywords: Deep ultraviolet; Gallium nitride; Molecular beam epitaxy; Nanostructure; Photonics; Semiconductor

$135,000

Small lasers: Towards future photonic technologies

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Grants Program - Individual

Principal investigators: Zhao, Songrui

Keywords: molecular beam epitaxy; indium gallium nitride; aluminum gallium nitride; semiconductor nanowires; ultraviolet; visible colors; laser diodes; light emitting devices; photonic crystals; sensing

$266,000

Small lasers: Towards future photonic technologies

Principal investigatorNSERC2019Discovery Launch Supplement

Principal investigators: Zhao, Songrui

$12,500

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Electrical and Computer Engineering
Materials Science and Engineering
Mining and Materials Engineering
Electrical & Computer Engineering
Systems Design Engineering

Co-authors at McGill University, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Gianluigi Botton

Materials Science and Engineering

2 shared papers, latest 2017

Jun Song

Mining and Materials Engineering

2 shared papers, latest 2025

Dayan Ban

Electrical & Computer Engineering

1 shared papers, latest 2016

Eihab Abdel-Rahman

Systems Design Engineering

1 shared papers, latest 2016

Thomas Szkopek

Electrical and Computer Engineering

1 shared papers, latest 2017

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their NSERC grant from 2023

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Molecular beam epitaxy Dear Professor Zhao, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Nanowire photodetectors: path to single physical artificial neurons." (2026), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your NSERC-funded project "GaN nanophotonics for light emitting and communication" (2023), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]