Research Areas

Applied Physics

Research in areas related to applied physics span topics in advanced materials, integrated photonics and opto-electronics, nano-fabrication, and new device concepts. Some of this focuses on the fabrication and characterization of nano-microtoroidal silicon-based resonators that exhibit extremely high Q factors. These photonic elements offer potential for a variety of applications, including chemical and biomedical sensing.

Other new directions being pursued seek to exploit these devices in arrays to create surfaces comprised of artificially-created materials (metamaterials) that can be used to scatter microwave radiation using optical and electrical signals to control the energy scattered from or captured by the surface. It is envisioned that this work can impact defense (e.g. radar cross section), commercial (e.g. automobile collision avoidance radar), and biomedical (e.g. irradiation of tissue) applications.

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Combining a deep knowledge of physics with creative engineering to extend the frontiers of sensing, imaging and computation.

 

Meet the Faculty

Shantanu Chakrabartty
Mark Lawrence
Matthew Lew
Aravind Nagulu
Jung-Tsung Shen
Lan Yang

Affiliate Faculty

Kater Murch

The Lew Lab

Professor Lew and his students build advanced imaging systems to study biological and chemical systems at the nanoscale, leveraging innovations in applied optics, classical and quantum detection and estimation theory, optimal system design, and physical chemistry.

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The Lawrence Lab

Professor Lawrence and his lab are harnessing breakthroughs in nanoscale engineering to push the limits of light-based technologies, targeting applications ranging from all-optical computing and quantum communication to metrology and biosensing.

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