This program focuses on developing and applying analytical and numerical techniques to model electromagnetic interactions with material on the nanoscale and quantum level to enable higher-fidelity sensing and control of light in close collaboration with experimentalists realizing and measuring those systems. Utilizing techniques spanning field theory, semi-analytical approaches and full wave electromagnetic simulation on GPUs, this program will seek to capture the physics of a diverse array of devices and materials, including nanocrystals both in regular lattices and disordered aggregates, dynamically critical thin-film nonlinear resonators and sub-diffractional inverse designed optical elements. 

Zhang, Xin H. H., and Harold U. Baranger. “Driven-Dissipative Phase Transition in a Kerr Oscillator: From Semiclassical PT Symmetry to Quantum Fluctuations.” Physical Review A 103, no. 3 (March 24, 2021): 033711. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.103.033711.

 

Roberts, Gregory, Conner Ballew, Tianzhe Zheng, Juan C. Garcia, Sarah Camayd-Muñoz, Philip W. C. Hon, and Andrei Faraon. “3D-Patterned Inverse-Designed Mid-Infrared Metaoptics.” Nature Communications 14, no. 1 (May 13, 2023): 2768. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38258-2.

key words

field theory; phase transitions; full wave E&M simulations; Quantum Optics; Metaoptics; numerical simulations; nonlinear optics; metamaterials; theory

Citizenship:  Open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents

Level:  Open to Postdoctoral applicants