Integrated Photonics

Integrated photonics range from large-scale networks of photonic devices to single photonic sensors in health-related diagnostics. Nanophotonic and nanoelectronic devices and materials promise to provide new means of compact image generation as well as intelligent information processing. This is done via controlling physics at the sub-micron level creating dramatic new means of accessing and controlling photons, charge transport and “spin”.

May 24, 2023

Multifunctional interface enables manipulation of light waves in free space (SPIE)

July 6, 2022

Next-generation data centers within reach thanks to new energy-efficient switches

In a paper published online July 4 in Nature Nanotechnology, a team led by University of Washington scientists reported the design of an energy-efficient, silicon-based non-volatile switch that manipulates light through the use of a phase-change material and graphene heater. The exceptional performance of their switch could help advance both information technology and quantum computing.

May 17, 2022

UW research team uses sound waves to move ‘excitons’ further than ever before

A team led by NanoES faculty member and UW ECE Professor Mo Li has developed a way of using sound waves to move subatomic quasiparticles known as ‘excitons’ further than ever before — leading to a faster, more energy-efficient computing circuit.

April 20, 2022

Lasers trigger magnetism in atomically thin quantum materials

Researchers have discovered that light — from a laser — can trigger a form of magnetism in a normally nonmagnetic material. This magnetism centers on the behavior of electrons “spins,” which have a potential applications in quantum computing. Scientists discovered that electrons within the material became oriented in the same direction when illuminated by photons from a laser. By controlling and aligning electron spins at this level of detail and accuracy, this platform could have applications in quantum computing, quantum simulation and other fields. The experiment, led by scientists at the University of Washington, the University of Hong Kong and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, was published April 20 in Nature.

January 24, 2022

Harnessing noise in optical computing for AI

UW ECE and Physics Professor Mo Li and his research team have developed a way to use stray photons generated by optical computing lasers (“noise”) to help enhance the creativity of artificial intelligence. This line of research holds huge potential for computing speed and efficiency, as well as the promise of reducing environmental impacts of AI and machine learning.

January 3, 2022

UW researchers developing miniaturized imaging device to treat heart attack, stroke

An interdisciplinary research team at the University of Washington, led by Arka Majumdar, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering and physics, was awarded $3.6 million in funding from the National Science Foundation to use meta-optics to develop a dramatically smaller endoscope that can image previously inaccessible areas of the heart and brain.

November 30, 2021

Researchers shrink camera to the size of a salt grain

Researchers at the UW and Princeton University have developed an ultracompact camera the size of a coarse grain of salt. The system relies on metasurfaces fabricated at Washington Nanofabrication Facility to produce crisp, full-color images on par with a conventional camera lens 500,000 times larger in volume, the researchers reported in Nature Communications.

October 13, 2021

Small Business awards from DARPA and NASA fuel growth of UW spinout Tunoptix

Tunoptix, a Seattle-based optics startup co-founded by University of Washington electrical and computer engineering professors Karl Böhringer and Arka Majumdar, received a $1,500,000 Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase II award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I award from NASA to advance their meta-optics imaging systems.

September 16, 2021

UW-led team receives $5M award to help bring quantum computing into the real world

A multi-institutional research team led by NanoES faculty members Mo Li, Arka Majumdar and Karl Böhringer is developing a powerful, miniaturized optical control engine, called PEAQUE, which will greatly increase capacity and speed of quantum computers.

September 9, 2021

NSF to fund revolutionary center for optoelectronic, quantum technologies

The National Science Foundation has announced it will fund a new endeavor to bring atomic-level precision to the devices and technologies that underpin much of modern life, and will transform fields like information technology in the decades to come. The five-year, $25 million Science and Technology Center grant will found the Center for Integration of Modern Optoelectronic Materials on Demand — or IMOD — a collaboration of scientists and engineers at 11 universities led by the University of Washington.