
Prof. Nicholas X Fang
Primary DLC
Areas of Interest and Expertise
Patterning and Characterization of Thin Film Optical Materials to Break the Diffraction Limit, with Application in Nanoscale Imaging, Information Processing and Energy Conversion
Design and Testing of Lightweight Composite Materials for Efficient Sound Attenuation, Ultrasound Focusing and Targeted Delivery and for Energy Dissipation
Specialties: Photonics, Nanofabrication and Advanced Imaging Technology
Research Summary
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Projects
July 1, 2019
Artificial Axons as a Myelination Assay for Drug Screening in Neurological Diseases
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
May 2, 2017Department of Mechanical Engineering3D Printed Ultrathin-Wall Cellular Ceramic Substrates for Catalytic Waste Gas Converters
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
August 23, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringNonlinear Optical Response from Optical Nanoantenna Arrays
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringSolid-State Superionic Stamping (S4) and Applications
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringNanophotonics: Tissue Engineering
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical Engineering3D Microactuator Driven by Hydrogel Swelling
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringProjection Micro-Stereolithography
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringFundamental Physics of Nano-Optics and Nano-Plasmonics
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringOptical Modulators
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringNanophotonics and 3D Nanomanufacturing
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringSurface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringMolecular Scale Imaging with a Smooth Optical Superlens
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical Engineering2D Acoustic Cloaking for Ultrasound Waves
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
June 10, 2011Department of Mechanical EngineeringFocusing Ultrasound with an Acoustic Metamaterial Network
Principal Investigator Nicholas Fang
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Video
1.28.21-Wuxi-Fang
Nicholas Fang
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
MIT Department of Mechanical Engineering11.5.20-Beijing-Nick-Fang
Nicholas Fang
Professor of Mechanical Engineering
MIT Department of Mechanical EngineeringNicholas Fang - 2016 Japan
Teaching Old Waves New Tricks: The Quest For Acoustic Meta-Materials
For centuries we enjoyed light and sound as tools to manipulate, store and control the flow of information and energy. However, our need to transmit information and energy through these wave channels suffered a physical limit dictated by diffraction. For example, Young’s double slit experiments suggest that for an observer at a distance away from the two slits, one cannot distinguish these slits from one when the gap of these slits are close to wavelength of light. Can we overcome the diffraction limit by bending and folding waves, in a similar fashion to paper origami?
In this seminar, I will present our efforts to fabricate 3D complex microstructures at unprecedented dimensions. In the arena of sound waves, these structures show promise on focusing and rerouting ultrasound through broadband and highly transparent metamaterials. Recently our research effort on acoustic metamaterials has been expanded to tailoring the wavefront and energy flow of elastic waves. In the optical domain, we report our development of optical imaging probes to measure the distinct local modes in the nanostructures that promote electron-photon interaction down to layers of a few atoms thick, which promise for efficient light emission and detection. These novel metamaterials could be the foundation of broadband photo-absorbers, directional emitters, as well as compact and power-efficient devices.