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Nanophotonics

Headed by Professor Wan Kuang and in collaboration with Professors Bill Knowlton, Will Hughes, Jeunghoon Lee, Elton Graugnard and Bernie Yurke, optical and electrical properties of photonic and plasmonic nanostructures are being designed, fabricated, and characterized for engineering and biomolecular applications.

The mission of nanophotonics research is to scale optical devices and components to their ultimate size limits. This usually involves designing near-field optical interactions that guide electromagnetic energy on a scale well below the diffraction limit. The group is currently involved in understanding the electro-optic properties of surface plasmon nanostructures using several numerical and experimental methods. The nanophotonics group also collaborates closely with material scientists (Dr. Knowlton, Hughes, Yurke) in exploring new sub-10 nm fabrication technique using single strand DNA as assembly scaffold.

This figure represents the magnetic field of a photonic crystal microcavity. The slab is the magnitude of the field in a plane passing through the microcavity. The contour lines on the slab correspond to 25%, 50%, and 75% of the maximum magnetic field strength. The arrows indicate the direction of the magnetic field. The translucent blue and purple “bubbles” are same value surfaces that represent 5% of the maximum magnetic field strength.

Students

Graduate Students

Undergraduate Students

Collaboration:

Funding:

  • DARPA
  • NSF Career Award
  • NSF MRI