Explore how we can engineer light itself
Drawing on fabrication techniques originally developed for computer chips, researchers can now pattern materials at the nanoscale to control how light moves, interacts and transfers energy.
In this lecture, Professor Michelle L. Povinelli will explore recent advances in nanophotonics that are reshaping signal processing, imaging, communications and thermal control. Her work brings together theory, fabrication and measurement in a tightly integrated research loop — allowing precise prediction and optimization of how materials absorb and emit light.
What you’lllearn
Smart materials that regulate temperature
By incorporating the phase-change material vanadium dioxide into multilayered film geometries, Professor Povinelli’s group has developed “smart skins” that automatically adjust thermal emission. These nanostructured coatings enable objects to regulate their own temperature and are finding application in satellite thermal control.
Custom photodetectors using metasurfaces
Using nanoscale patterns known as metasurfaces, her team designs photodetectors that selectively record specific wavelengths and angles of incoming light. These engineered devices support applications in spectroscopic imaging and encrypted information transfer.
Rethinking fundamental physical limits
Professor Povinelli will also discuss recent theoretical work exploring space-time modulation of refractive index in nanopatterned materials. This approach challenges the traditional constraints of Kirchoff’s Law, which states that absorptivity and emissivity are equal. By lifting this constraint, her research suggests new implications for energy transfer processes.
Speaker bio
Michelle L. Povinelli is Dean’s Professor of Engineering, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Professor of Physics & Astronomy at the University of Southern California. She currently serves as Vice Chair of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
She is a recipient of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the NSF CAREER Award and the Army Young Investigator Award. She is a Fellow of Optica and SPIE.
Professor Povinelli earned a BA from the University of Chicago, an MPhil from the University of Cambridge and a PhD from MIT, all in Physics.