Team
Primary Investigator
Natalia M. Litchinitser: Dr. Litchinitser is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and a professor of physics at Duke University. She earned her PhD in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a master’s degree in physics from Moscow State University in Russia. She completed her postdoctoral training at the Institute of Optics, University of Rochester, in 2000. Dr. Litchinitser previously was a professor of electrical engineering at the University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, a member of Technical Staff at Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, and a senior member of Technical Staff at Tyco Submarine Systems. She has authored seven invited book chapters and over 250 journal and conference research papers. She is a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a fellow of Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America), a senior member of the IEEE and SPIE, and served as a co-chair of CLEO Fundamental Science and SPIE Nanoscience and Engineering Applications conferences in 2021–2022.
Chief Morale Officer (CMO)
Cappuccino: Dr. Cappuccino is the long-bodied, short-legged heart of the NANO Group. As our unofficial mascot and official Chief Morale Officer, he specializes in boosting productivity through unexpected lap visits, tactical tail wags, and well-timed snoring during Zoom meetings. With a nose for science (and snacks), Cappuccino ensures the lab maintains optimal bark-to-brain ratio at all times.
When not supervising experiments from a sunbeam, he can be found chasing photons (and squirrels), offering emotional support during paper deadlines, and reminding us all that belly rubs are just as important as boundary conditions. His research interests include: laser pointer tracking, nap optimization, and quantum chew toy entanglement.
Research Staff
Danilo Gomes Pires: Danilo is a research scientist with an interest in the fundamental properties of light and its interaction with linear and nonlinear media. Currently working on the propagation of bi- and three-dimensional topological states of light through turbulence and scattering media, novel optical structures within the spatiotemporal domain, nonlinear response of complex light, and designing beam-shaping holographic metasurfaces. When it comes to hobbies, he likes to read books, play the guitar, and stay active.
Graduate Students
Hooman Barati Sedeh: Hooman received a BSc degree in electrical engineering–
communications from Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran,
Iran, in 2019, and his master’s degree in electrical engineering–
electromagnetics at Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts,
USA, in 2021. He is a rising fourth-year PhD candidate, with his research interest focusing on the theoretical and experimental studies of light–matter interaction with subwavelength meta-atoms for various applications, including nonlinear
optics, quantum optics, and nanoscale imaging. Outside the lab, Hooman enjoys watching football and basketball and is an unapologetically obsessed dog lover.
Yuruo Zheng: Yuruo is a rising third-year PhD student. Her research interests lie in the design and fabrication of metasurfaces, with a particular focus on multilayer structures.
Jiaren Tan: Jiaren is a second-year Ph.D. student, currently working on generating various spatiotemporal optical structures and exploring skyrmion generation. He is interested in topologically structured light, spatiotemporal optical structures and their applications, generating optical structures using metasurfaces, and polarization holography. He enjoys a variety of sports, including football and baseball, and is also a devoted fan of classical music.
Alex Meng: Alex is a first-year PhD student interested in photonic computing and machine learning. He likes to do ballroom dancing and play table tennis in his free time.
Undergraduate Students
Anna R. Finkelstein: Anna is a senior undergraduate student working on designing nonlinear meta-optical platforms. She is currently working on amorphous silicon on glass metasurfaces to produce third harmonic generation and manipulate their wavefront. Outside of the lab, she hikes and dances.
Alice Chen: Alice is a junior undergraduate student majoring in Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) and Physics. Her current research focuses on optical metasurfaces for imaging applications. Outside the lab, she enjoys reading novels, writing fiction, painting, and playing the guitar.
Jill Wang: Jill is a sophomore at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering pursuing a double major in Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science. Within the Litchinitser group, she simulates, designs, and fabricates optical metasurfaces: arrays of ultra-thin surfaces (often just a few hundred nanometers thick) composed of tiny structures known as meta-atoms, typically smaller than the wavelength of light. Along with non-linear optics and nanophotonics research, she has developed a strong passion for applying electrical engineering to solve real-world challenges, PCB design, and accessible and efficient electricity generation. Outside of academic interests, she enjoys staying active through volleyball, pickleball, and tennis.
