Abstract: Spurred by continued advances in computational methods, nanofabrication, and material synthesis, development of general-purpose electromagnetic solvers have been principally driven by the tantalizing possibility of accessing the full wave physics contained in Maxwell’s equations. Such developments have in turn raised questions pertaining to the underlying physical limitations of optical devices. Functioning as complements to large-scale structural optimization or 'inverse design', the study of fundamental limits on optical processes has grown from a disparate collection of situation-specific and heuristic results into sophisticated general-purpose optimization techniques aimed at understanding the interplay of fundamental physics and optimal device performance. In this talk, we present an overview of recent developments in this area and their applications to light scattering, light–matter interactions, fluctuation phenomena, optical transformations, and communication.
Biography: Alejandro Rodriguez is an Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and the Director of the Program in Materials Science and Engineering at Princeton University. His research focuses on nanophotonics, the study of light in structured media, where he is known for his contributions to computational and mathematical methods and for his work on quantum fluctuations, nonlinear optics, and nanophotonic inverse design. He was awarded the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the National Science Foundation Early CAREER Award, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers Young Investigator Award, and the Department of Energy Frederick A. Howes Award in Computational Science. He has Bachelors and PhD degrees in Physics from MIT and was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Harvard University.
Location: Online Seminar
