Heffernan, Jon, Professor

Professor Jon Heffernan

PhD, BSc

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Professor in Electrical Engineering

National Epitaxy Facility Research Group

jon.heffernan@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 5165

Full contact details

Professor Jon Heffernan
School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Profile

I graduated with a PhD in Physics from Trinity College Dublin in 1994 with a thesis on optical switching for optical computing applications.

From 1994 to 1996 I was a post-doctoral researcher working on the first blue-green laser diodes in collaboration with Sony Corporation. From 1996 to 2013 I was employed in the European research laboratories of Sharp Corporation in Oxford, eventually as Director of Advanced Optoelectronic Devices for the company.

In this seventeen years in industrial research I was involved in the development of three generations of optical storage technology: CD, DVD and Blu-ray.

I also led research and development on LED lighting and display technologies using blue LEDs and novel quantum dot phosphors, and on record-holding Silicon and GaAs-based solar cells. Much of this work was transferred into mass production and commercialised globally.

In 2013 I joined the University of ��«Ӱҵ as Professor of Semiconductor Materials and Devices and concurrently Director of the EPSRC .

My current research is in the area of Quantum Science and Technology especially the epitaxy of semiconductor quantum dots which are used in developing single photon and entangled photon sources for quantum communications and quantum information processing.

I am also active in manufacturing research for photonics and I am deputy Director of the with the University of Southampton.

Qualifications

PhD, Trinity College Dublin
BSc (Physics), Cork

Research interests

Epitaxy of novel semiconductors materials and devices
Molecular beam epitaxy
Semiconductor nanostructures and their applications
Nitride-based semiconductors and their applications

Publications

Journal articles

Chan CL, Sala EM, Clarke EM & Heffernan J (2025) . Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics, 58(2).
Phillips CL, Brash AJ, Godsland M, Martin NJ, Foster A, Tomlinson A, Dost R, Babazadeh N, Sala EM, Wilson L , Heffernan J et al (2024) . Scientific Reports, 14(1).
Sala EM, Na YI, Godsland M & Heffernan J (2023) . physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters.
Mitchell CJ, Osman A, Li K, Penadés JS, Nedeljkovic M, Zhou L, Groom KM, Heffernan J & Mashanovich G (2022) . EPJ Web of Conferences, 266, 01008-01008.
Gajjela RSR, Sala EM, Heffernan J & Koenraad PM (2022) . ACS Applied Nano Materials.
Ovenden C, Farrer I, Skolnick MS & Heffernan J (2022) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 37(2).
Sala DEM, Godsland M, Na YI, Trapalis A & Heffernan J (2021) . Nanotechnology, 33(6).
Anderson M, Müller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Huwer J, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2021) . Applied Physics Letters, 118(1).
Anderson M, Müller T, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2020) . npj Quantum Information, 6(1).
Shooter G, Xiang Z-H, Müller JRA, Skiba-Szymanska J, Huwer J, Griffiths J, Mitchell T, Anderson M, Müller T, Krysa A , Stevenson RM et al (2020) . Optics Express, 28(24), 36838-36848.
Shooter G, Xiang Z-H, Müller JRA, Skiba-Szymanska J, Huwer J, Griffiths J, Mitchell T, Anderson M, Müller T, Krysa AB , Mark Stevenson R et al (2020) . Optics Express, 28(24), 36838-36838.
Trapalis A, Fry PW, Kennedy K, Farrer I, Kean A, Sharman J & Heffernan J (2020) . Materials Letters: X, 7.
Anderson M, Müller T, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2020) . Physical Review Applied, 13(5).
Trapalis A, Farrer I, Kennedy K, Kean A, Sharman J & Heffernan J (2020) . AIP Advances, 10(3).
Sala EM, Na YI, Godsland M, Trapalis A & Heffernan J (2020) . physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters, 14(8), 2000173-2000173.
Jalali Mehrabad M, Foster AP, Dost R, Clarke E, Patil PK, Farrer I, Heffernan J, Skolnick MS & Wilson LR (2020) . Applied Physics Letters, 116(6), 061102-061102.
Müller T, Anderson M, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2019) . Quantum Information and Measurement (QIM) V: Quantum Technologies.
Müller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Huwer J, Felle M, Anderson M, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2018) . Nature Communications, 9.
Trapalis A, Farrer I, Kennedy K, Kean A, Sharman J & Heffernan J (2017) . Applied Physics Letters, 111(12).
Skiba-Szymanska J, Stevenson RM, Varnava C, Felle M, Huwer J, Müller T, Bennett AJ, Farrer I, Krysa AB, Spencer P , Goff LE et al (2017) . Physical Review Applied, 8(1).
Trapalis A, Heffernan J, Farrer I, Sharman J & Kean A (2016) . Journal of Applied Physics, 120(20).
Dimmock JAR, Day S, Kauer M, Smith K & Heffernan J (2014) . Progress in Photovoltaics: Research and Applications, 22(2), 151-160.
Bennett SE, Smeeton TM, Saxey DW, Smith GDW, Hooper SE, Heffernan J, Humphreys CJ & Oliver RA (2012) . Journal of Applied Physics, 111(5), 053508-053508.
Tan WS, Kauer M, Hooper SE, Smeeton TM, Bousquet V, Rossetti M, Heffernan J, Xiu H & Humphreys CJ (2009) . physica status solidi (a), 206(6), 1205-1210.
Sénès M, Lagarde D, Smith KL, Balocchi A, Hooper SE, Amand T, Heffernan J & Marie X (2009) . Applied Physics Letters, 94(22), 223114-223114.
Xiu H, Thrush EJ, Kauer M, Smeeton TM, Hooper SE, Heffernan J & Humphreys CJ (2008) . physica status solidi (c), 5(6), 2204-2206.
Rossetti M, Smeeton TM, Tan W-S, Kauer M, Hooper SE, Heffernan J, Xiu H & Humphreys CJ (2008) . Applied Physics Letters, 92(15), 151110-151110.
Sénès M, Smith KL, Smeeton TM, Hooper SE & Heffernan J (2008) . Physica E: Low-dimensional Systems and Nanostructures, 40(6), 2066-2068.
Tan WS, Kauer M, Hooper SE, Barnes JM, Rossetti M, Smeeton TM, Bousquet V & Heffernan J (2008) . Electronics Letters, 44(5), 351-351.
Kauer M, Bousquet V, Hooper SE, Barnes JM, Windle J, Tan WS & Heffernan J (2007) . physica status solidi (a), 204(1), 221-226.
Heffernan J, Kauer M, Windle J, Hooper SE, Bousquet V, Zellweger C & Barnes JM (2006) . physica status solidi (c), 3(6), 1379-1382.
Smeeton TM, Bousquet V, Hooper SE, Kauer M & Heffernan J (2006) . Applied Physics Letters, 88(4), 041910-041910.
Smeeton TM, Sénès M, Smith KL, Hooper SE & Heffernan J (2006) . MRS Proceedings, 955.
Xiu H, Costa PMFJ, Kauer M, Smeeton TM, Hooper SE, Heffernan J & Humphreys CJ (2006) . MRS Proceedings, 955.
Hooper SE, Kauer M, Bousquet V, Johnson K, Zellweger C & Heffernan J (2005) . Journal of Crystal Growth, 278(1-4), 361-366.
Kauer M, Hooper SE, Bousquet V, Johnson K, Zellweger C, Barnes JM, Windle J, Smeeton TM & Heffernan J (2005) . Electronics Letters, 41(13), 739-739.
Heffernan J, Kauer M, Hooper SE, Bousquet V & Johnson K (2004) . phys. stat. sol. (a), 201(12), 2668-2671.
Bousquet V, Kauer M, Johnson K, Zellweger C, Hooper SE & Heffernan J (2004) . MRS Proceedings, 831.
Johnson K, Bousquet V, Hooper SE, Kauer M, Zellweger C & Heffernan J (2004) . Electronics Letters, 40(20), 1299-1299.
Hooper SE, Kauer M, Bousquet V, Johnson K, Barnes JM & Heffernan J (2004) . Electronics Letters, 40(1), 33-33.
Bousquet V, Heffernan J, Barnes J & Hooper S (2001) . Applied Physics Letters, 78(6), 754-756.
Griffin IJ, Wolverson D, Davies JJ, Emam-Ismail M, Heffernan J, Kean AH, Bland SW & Duggan G (2000) . Semiconductor Science and Technology, 15(11), 1030-1034.
Sharma N, Tricker D, Keast V, Hooper S, Heffernan J, Barnes J, Kean A & Humphreys C (1999) . MRS Proceedings, 595.
Logue FP, Rees P, Heffernan JF, Jordan C, Donegan JF, Hegarty J, Hiei F, Taniguchi S, Hino T, Nakano K & Ishibashi A (1998) . Journal of the Optical Society of America B, 15(4), 1295-1295.
Logue FP, Fewer DT, Hewlett SJ, Heffernan JF, Jordan C, Rees P, Donegan JF, McCabe EM, Hegarty J, Taniguchi S , Hino T et al (1997) . Journal of Applied Physics, 81(1), 536-538.
Aherne T, Bradley AL, Doran JP, O'Gorman J, Heffernan JF, Hegarty J, De Neve H, Brys C, Geens G, Van Daele P , Baets R et al (1996) . Journal of Crystal Growth, 159(1-4), 636-639.
Rees P, Jordan C, Heffernan JF, Hegarty J, Logue FP, Hiei F, Donegan JF & Ishibashi A (1996) . IEE Proceedings - Optoelectronics, 143(1), 110-112.
Rees P, Logue FP, Donegan JF, Heffernan JF, Jordan C & Hegarty J (1995) . Applied Physics Letters, 67(25), 3780-3782.
Moloney MH, Heffernan JF, Hegarty J, Grey R & Woodhead J (1993) . Applied Physics Letters, 63(4), 435-437.
Heffernan JF, Moloney MH, Hegarty J & Roberts JS (1991) . Electronics Letters, 27(8), 659-659.
Heffernan JF, Moloney MH, Hegarty J, Roberts JS & Whitehead M (1991) . Applied Physics Letters, 58(25), 2877-2879.
Sala EM, In Na Y & Heffernan J () . Crystal Growth & Design.
Schofield RC, Fu M, Clarke E, Farrer I, Trapalis A, Dhar HS, Mukherjee R, Severs Millard T, Heffernan J, Mintert F , Nyman RA et al () . Nature Photonics.
Sala EM, Godsland M, Trapalis A & Heffernan J () . physica status solidi (RRL) – Rapid Research Letters.
Taylor PN, Schreuder MA, Smeeton TM, Grundy AJD, Dimmock JAR, Hooper SE, Heffernan J & Kauer M () . J. Mater. Chem. C, 2(22), 4379-4382.
Tan W-S, Bousquet V, Kauer M, Takahashi K & Heffernan J () . Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 48(7), 072102-072102.
Sénès M, Smith KL, Smeeton TM, Hooper SE & Heffernan J () . Physical Review B, 75(12).
Sénès M, Smith KL, Smeeton TM, Hooper SE & Heffernan J () . Physical Review B, 75(4).
Logue FP, Rees P, Heffernan JF, Jordan C, Donegan JF, Hegarty J, Hiei F & Ishibashi A () . Physical Review B, 54(23), 16417-16420.
Heffernan JF, Hegarty J & Planel R () . Physical Review B, 52(11), 7818-7821.

Conference proceedings papers

Mashanovich GZ, Wei C, McQuillan S, Ismaeel R, Lack N, Hu T, Zhou L, Groom KM, Heffernan J, Patey MD , Cardwell CL et al (2024) . Smart Photonic and Optoelectronic Integrated Circuits 2024, 27 January 2024 - 1 February 2024.
Rowe DJ, Reid L, Wei C, Stirling CJ, Mitchell CJ, Du H, Yan X, Tran DT, Wu Y, Banakar M , Qi Y et al (2023) . 2023 23rd International Conference on Transparent Optical Networks (ICTON), 2 July 2023 - 6 July 2023.
Schofield RC, Fu M, Clarke E, Farrer I, Dhar H, Mukherjee R, Heffernan J, Mintert F, Nyman RA & Oulton RF (2023) . 2023 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), 26 June 2023 - 30 June 2023.
Mitchell CJ, Osman A, Li K, Panades JS, Nedeljkovic M, Zhou L, Groom KM, Heffernan J & Mashanovich GZ (2023) . Silicon Photonics XVIII, 28 January 2023 - 3 February 2023.
Müller T, Wells L, Anderson M, Shooter G, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa A, Huwer J, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2023) . Optica Quantum 2.0 Conference and Exhibition, 2023.
Müller T, Anderson M, Skiba-Szymanska J, Huwer J, Stevenson M, Krysa AB, Heffernan J, Ritchie D & Shields A (2022) . Quantum Computing, Communication, and Simulation II, 22 January 2022 - 28 February 2022.
Mashanovich GZ, Reid L, Georgiev G, Wei C, Qi Y, Stirling CJ, Osman A, Wu Y, Qu Z, Heffernan J , Groom KM et al (2022) . Integrated Optics: Devices, Materials, and Technologies XXVI, 22 January 2022 - 28 February 2022.
Müller T, Anderson M, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson M, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2021) . Quantum Computing, Communication, and Simulation, 6 March 2021 - 12 March 2021.
Stevenson RM, Müller JRA, Shooter G, Anderson M, Skiba-Szymanska J, Müller T, Huwer J, Krysa AB, Farrer I, Ritchie DA , Heffernan J et al (2021) . Frontiers in Optics + Laser Science 2021, 2021.
Huwer J, Xiang Z, Shooter G, Skiba-Szymanska J, Müller T, Ellis DJP, Anderson M, Müller JRA, Mitchell T, Griffiths J , Stevenson RM et al (2020) . Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics, 2020.
Fordos T, Clarke E, Patil P, Airey RJ, Babazadeh N, Cemlyn B, Adams M, Henning I & Heffernan J (2019) . 2019 24th Microoptics Conference (MOC), 17 November 2019 - 20 November 2019.
Huwer J, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA, Shields AJ, Muller T, Xiang Z, Anderson M, Stevenson RM, Skiba-Szymanska J, Ward MB , Farrer I et al (2019) . 2019 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), 23 June 2019 - 27 June 2019.
Müller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa A, Huwer J, Felle M, Anderson M, Stevenson M, Heffernan J, Ritchie D & Shields A (2019) . Advances in Photonics of Quantum Computing, Memory, and Communication XII, 2 February 2019 - 7 February 2019.
Huwer J, Müller T, Xiang Z, Anderson M, Stevenson RM, Skiba-Szymanska J, Ward MB, Farrer I, Krysa A, Heffernan J , Ritchie DA et al (2019) Network integration and coherent operation of telecom entangled light sources based on semiconductor quantum dots. Optics InfoBase Conference Papers, Vol. Part F143-EQEC 2019
Muller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Huwer J, Felle M, Anderson M, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2018) . Extended Abstracts of the 2018 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, 9 September 2018 - 13 September 2018.
Muller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Stevenson RM, Varnava C, Felle M, Huwer J, Bennett AJ, Lee JP, Farrer I, Krysa A , Spencer P et al (2017) . 2017 Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe & European Quantum Electronics Conference (CLEO/Europe-EQEC), 25 June 2017 - 29 June 2017.
Muller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Stevenson RM, Varnava C, Felle M, Huwer J, Farrer I, Krysa AB, Spencer P, Ritchie DA , Heffernan J et al (2017) . Quantum Dots and Nanostructures: Growth, Characterization, and Modeling XIV, 28 January 2017 - 2 February 2017.
Stevenson RM, Skiba-Szymanska J, Varnava C, Felle M, Huwer J, Muller T, Farrer I, Krysa A, Spencer P, Ritchie DA , Heffernan J et al (2016) . Extended Abstracts of the 2016 International Conference on Solid State Devices and Materials, 26 September 2016 - 29 September 2016.
Dimmock JAR, Day S, Smith K, Heffernan J & Kauer M (2014) . 2014 IEEE 40th Photovoltaic Specialist Conference (PVSC), 8 June 2014 - 13 June 2014.
Kauer M, Tan WS, Hooper SE, Barnes JM & Heffernan J (2007) . SPIE Proceedings
Heffernan J, Kauer M, Hooper SE, Bousquet V, Windle J, Smeeton T & Barnes JM (2006) . Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers V
Heffernan J, Kauer M, Johnson K, Zellweger C, Hooper SE & Bousquet V (2005) . physica status solidi (a), Vol. 202(5) (pp 868-874)
Kauer M, Heffernan J, Hooper SE, Bousquet V, Johnson K & Zellweger C (2005) . Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers IV
Klengel S, Caillaud P, Oulton RF, Stavrinou PN, Parry G, Heffernan J & Poole B (2003) Detailed spectral analysis of 2D photonic crystal structures embedded into ridge waveguides. OSA Trends in Optics and Photonics Series, Vol. 88 (pp 988-990)
Rees PCT, Heffernan JF, Logue FP, Donegan JF, Jordan C, Hegarty J, Hiei F & Ishibashi A (1996) . Physics and Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices IV
Rees P, Heffernan JF, Logue FP, Donegan JF, Jordan C, Hegarty J, Taniguchi S, Hino T, Hiei F & Ishibashi A (1996) . Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics Europe, 1996.
Heffernan J, Kauer M, Johnson K, Zellweger C, Bousquet V & Hopper SE () . The 17th Annual Meeting of the IEEELasers and Electro-Optics Society, 2004. LEOS 2004.

Datasets

Trapalis A, Farrer I, Kennedy K, Kean A, Sharman J & Heffernan J .
Foster A, Mehrabad MJ, Wilson L, Dost R, Clarke E, Patil P, Farrer I, Heffernan J & Skolnick M .

Preprints

Phillips CL, Brash AJ, Godsland M, Martin NJ, Foster A, Tomlinson A, Dost R, Babazadeh N, Sala EM, Wilson L , Heffernan J et al (2023) , arXiv.
Schofield RC, Fu M, Clarke E, Farrer I, Trapalis A, Dhar HS, Mukherjee R, Heffernan J, Mintert F, Nyman RA & Oulton RF (2023) , arXiv.
Shooter G, Xiang Z, Müller JRA, Skiba-Szymanska J, Huwer J, Griffiths J, Mitchell T, Anderson M, Müller T, Krysa AB , Stevenson RM et al (2020) 1GHz clocked distribution of electrically generated entangled photon pairs, arXiv.
Anderson M, Müller T, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2020) GHz-clocked teleportation of time-bin qubits with a telecom C-band quantum dot, arXiv.
Mehrabad MJ, Foster AP, Dost R, Clarke E, Patil PK, Farrer I, Heffernan J, Skolnick MS & Wilson LR (2019) A Semiconductor Topological Photonic Ring Resonator, arXiv.
Anderson M, Müller T, Huwer J, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa AB, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2019) Quantum teleportation using highly coherent emission from telecom C-band quantum dots, arXiv.
Müller T, Skiba-Szymanska J, Krysa A, Huwer J, Felle M, Anderson M, Stevenson RM, Heffernan J, Ritchie DA & Shields AJ (2017) A quantum light emitting diode for the standard telecom window around 1550 nm, arXiv.
Skiba-Szymanska J, Stevenson RM, Varnava C, Felle M, Huwer J, Müller T, Bennett AJ, Lee JP, Farrer I, Krysa A , Spencer P et al (2016) Universal growth scheme for entanglement-ready quantum dots, arXiv.

Professional activities and memberships

Professor of Semiconductor Materials and Devices
Director of EPSRC National Epitaxy Facility
Deputy Director of the Future Photonics Manufacturing Hub

Research students

Student	Degree	Status	Primary/Secondary
Trapalis, A	PhD	Graduated	Primary
Chen, X	MPhil	Graduated	Primary
Jiang, S	PhD	Graduated	Secondary
Godsland, M	PhD	Current	Primary
Young, I N	PhD	Current	Primary
Wang, C	PhD	Current	Primary
Ovenden, C	PhD	Current	Secondary
Sharaf, A	PhD	Current	Secondary

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School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering

Professor Jon Heffernan

Journal articles

Conference proceedings papers

Datasets

Preprints

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