ab initio Physics Group

Optical characteristics of structures with length scales smaller than the wavelength of light are dramatically different than those of macroscopic objects. Such subwavelength devices, called photonic crystals, can be tailored to exhibit rich optical properties. In our group, we design, fabricate, and characterize photonic crystals for various applications from enhanced lasing to energy harvesting. The unique properties of optical nano-structured materials have already enabled a wide range of very important applications (e.g. in medicine, energy , telecommunications , defense, etc.) and are expected to do even more so in the future. We are also interested in various non-linear nano-optical phenomena, as well as light-matter interaction in plasmonic systems. Our aim is to tackle problems both theoretically and experimentally, from developing novel theoretical tools to pioneering advanced nanofabrication techniques.
The Research Lab of Electronics (RLE) ab initio Physics Group researches a variety of complex systems from an ab initio standpoint. Most investigations fall into the broad categories of photonic crystals and optics (photons) or atomic systems and electronic structure (atoms). The group works on problems related to a new kind of material, photonic crystals (also known as photonic band-gap materials). Photonic crystals are periodic dielectric structures that have a band gap that forbids propagation of a certain frequency range of light. This property enables one to control light with amazing facility and produce effects that are impossible with conventional optics. The group is interested in finding new phenomena and devices that are made possible by photonic crystals, and have already filed several patents for discoveries. The group's work in atomic systems and electronic structures includes studies of the behavior of a "wet electron," an excess electron surrounded by water molecules, with the eventual goal of predicting the diffusion constant and other properties, numerical studies of dimer molecules on silicon surfaces, research on a new class of semiconductors (MITite) designed using ab-initio first principle calculations, computational simulation of the wavefunctions of fermions and bosons, and accelerated molecular dynamics formulation to investigate silicon.