Current Research and Research Interest:
- Plasmonics and Metamaterials: Theoretical investigations of plasmonically-enhanced solar cells, plasmonic waveguiding, plasmonic environmental and bio sensing, Fundamental metamaterial research, etc.
Plasmonics is the study of the interaction between electromagnetic field and free electrons in a metal. Free electrons in the metal can be excited by the electric component of light to have collective oscillations. The field of plasmonics aims to exploit the unique optical properties of nanometallic structures to control and manipulate light at the nanoscale. Unlike dielectrics, metals (such as gold and silver) have a negative dielectric function, which allows them to support collective electron excitations known as 'surface plasmons'. Here energy transfer occurs through resonances of optical energy with the plasma energy of the metal. These resonances exist between the metal surface and the surrounding dielectric and produce extremely high local electric field intensities. Moreover, these properties are not present in the constituent bulk material.
- Photonic materials and devices: Design optimization of novel micro and nano structured optical/photonic materials and devices, e.g. photonic crystal fiber and integrated wave-optics
- Biophotonics and Biomedical Engineering:Theoretical studies of interaction of photons with cells/tissues
- Power Electronics & Robotics: Projects on design and flight control of quadro-copter, electronic vehicle drive control, advanced instrumentations and control system projects, etc.
Previous Research:
My PhD research was in the area of Opto-electronic sensors for biomedical applications under the joint supervision of Professor Ying Y. Tsui and Professor James N. McMullin. The title of
my PhD research is "Development of an Efficient Quasi-3D Microfluidic Flow Model and Fabrication and Characterization of an All-PDMS Opto-Microfluidic Flow Cytometer". In this project
optical scattering propertes of the stem cells were used to isolate them from the cord blood cells using a micro flow cytometer. Thus the project included three areas of expertise, namely: Photonics, microfluidics and microfabrication. I completed the project goal in the Fall of 2012.
