Special Interdisciplinary QC-CM Seminar | Manipulating Light-Matter Interactions in Structured Dielectric Media

Next generation information platforms based on planar integrated photonics and free space optics have shown significant promise for overcoming the performance bottlenecks of traditional semiconductor based digital architectures. Many recent advances in information processing have been enabled by the development of Integrated Microwave Photonics, Optical Neuromorphic Computing, and Quantum Photonics platforms. Our research utilizes experimental methods and Multiphysics simulations to explore interesting correlations between fundamental light-matter interactions and photonic device functionality in the Visible to midIR and THz regime. We are particularly interested in understanding how to use structurally driven anisotropy to modify or tune a material’s “effective” optical properties. In this talk, we will introduce phase change chalcogenides on nanostructured silicon (PCNS) as a novel optical metamaterial with an actively tunable effective permittivity and anisotropic thermal diffusivity which leads to intriguing, lower power, dynamic behavior. We will also show how PCNS can be used to modify the resonant behavior of THz metasurfaces by creating small perturbations in regions of strong optical mode confinement. In addition, we will explore hyperbolic optical media with extreme in-plane anisotropy which supports interesting polariton interactions such as spatial confinement and tunable resonant behavior. We will show how resonator geometry influences the optical behavior of mid-Infrared phonon-polaritons in highly anisotropic hyperbolic media which led to new fundamental physics and functionality of hyperbolic metamaterials for photonics applications.

Bio: Dr. Eric Seabron has been an assistant professor in the Electrical Engineering Department at Howard University since 2021. He received his PhD in Material Science and Engineering from the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign in 2017. His graduate research focused on the growth and nanoscale metrology of Carbon Nanotubes and Gallium Arsenide Nanowires. After graduating, he spent 3 years as a microelectronics engineer developing semiconductor fabrication processes at Northrop Grumman Corporation. In 2020, he was awarded the NRC postdoctoral fellowship to conduct experimental research on optical metamaterials at the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC. His current research interest includes fundamental light-matter-heat physics in structured media, reconfigurable microwave and THz devices, dynamic infrared photonics and optoelectronics, memristive functionality for neuromorphic computing.