February 24, 2025

Spanning the entire history of human civilization, light has remained one of the most important media for information and knowledge transfer, starting with lighting fire to alert people of
imminent danger in the pre-historic era. Understanding the property and behavior of light is crucial for realms beyond just data and knowledge transfer. It is well-known that high-speed internet,
novel displays, and ubiquitous optical sensors, including cameras, rely on photonic technologies. Apart from these, numerous other applications like solar cells, bio- and chemical sensing, and
medical imaging depend heavily on optics.

Today, we are in a remarkable position to manipulate light most innovatively. We can fabricate optical devices with nanometer-scale features where the nature of light propagation
fundamentally changes. With the nanoscale confinement of light, one can even study the quantum nature of light in solid-state systems. This opens up advanced avenues of exploration for a variety of
applications. These devices enable integrated photonics, novel quantum optics, ultrathin flat optics, and new functionalities such as negative refraction of light and superlensing. In this course, you will
learn about such nanoscale photonic devices via literature survey, problem-solving, and numerical simulations using Lumerical FDTD. The course will also include a design project of a
nanophotonic device.

Feedback from past years:
• This course made me realize how important it is to really think about how the application of physics to a specific technology or device might change and if the application to that technology or device is even
feasible.
• The examples of practical challenges with designs and experiments. Discussing these topics was extremely interesting, as much of this is not clearly stated in the literature. Except for courses like this, similar
information is very difficult to find.

Prerequisite:

Familiarity with electromagnetics, quantum mechanics and solid-state devices will be helpful. Programming (either with MATLAB or Python) will be required for the class.

Applied_Nanophotonics_Spring_2025

E E 535 APP NANOPHOTONICS
Restr 21736 A     4    MW     1230-220    ECE 303     Majumdar,Arka