Luca Dal Negro Earns NSF Award
By Colbi Edmonds and Luca Dal Negro
Professor Luca Dal Negro (ECE, MSE) received a National Science Foundation Award for a project that will be developing miniaturized optical devices to simultaneously image a target and spectrally analyze the properties of the incoming radiation using sub-micron silicon chips. Spectroscopic optical technology is essential to our day-to-day lives as it enables rapid and non-destructive detection and identification of different elements and compounds with applications ranging from optical communications to medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, forensics, and security. However, spectroscopic devices typically involve multiple discrete components that increase system cost and complexity.
Dal Negro’s project is focused on developing a new generation of ultra-compact, multi-functional, and inexpensive spectroscopic devices based on nano-structured silicon materials, which are widespread in the microelectronics industry. These devices are thinner than the light wavelengths they image and have transverse footprints of only a few tens of microns, comparable to the thickness of a strand of human hair. The research integrates materials and device fabrication with advanced simulation and computational techniques to unambiguously interpret optical signals and extract fingerprinting information from the analyzed targets and environments down to the molecular level.
This grant will support one graduate student towards the goal of demonstrating imaging micro-spectrometers that operate across selected spectral regions from the visible to the infrared spectral range.
Professor Dal Negro’s research focuses on the study of optical nanostructures and light scattering in complex media. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA) for numerous contributions in the theoretical and experimental aspects of wave interaction with aperiodic nanostructures, nanophotonics and plasmonics leading to novel engineering applications. He is also a recipient of numerous research awards that include the NSF CAREER Award and the Boston University’s Early Career Research Excellence Award.
To learn more about Professor Dal Negro and his team’s research, please visit their website.