UW research team creates a new type of optical chip

Closeup of programmable photonic integrated circuit.

A research team led by Arka Majumdar, MolES faculty member and UW Electrical & Computer Engineering (ECE) and Physics professor, has engineered a new type of optical microchip. This programmable photonic integrated circuit was fabricated in the Washington Nanofabrication Facility (WNF) and is low power, electrically reconfigurable, and can be mass-produced. Read more about this chip that has the potential to be applied in a wide range of technologies, including information processing, sensing, imaging, machine learning and artificial intelligence here. Read More

New metasurface design can control optical fields in three dimensions

A team led by MolES faculty member Arka Majumdar, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics, has designed and tested a 3D-printed metamaterial that can manipulate light with nanoscale precision. As they report in a paper published October 4 in the journal Science Advances, their designed optical element focuses light to discrete points in a 3D helical pattern.

MolES Faculty recognized for excellence in research and education

Christine Luscombe, MolES Education Director and Campbell Career Development Endowed Professor of Materials Science & Engineering, received the 2019 College of Engineering Faculty Award in Research. MolES faculty members Arka Majumdar, Assistant Professor in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Physics, and Elizabeth Nance, Clare Boothe Luce Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering, received Junior Faculty Awards in recognition of their leadership in research and education.

Hybrid optics bring color imaging using ultrathin metalenses into focus

In a paper published Feb. 9 in Science Advances, scientists at the University of Washington announced that they have successfully combined two different imaging methods "” a type of lens designed for nanoscale interaction with lightwaves, along with robust computational processing "” to create full-color images.