Marko Loncar, "New Opportunities with Old Optical Materials" | KNI Distinguished Seminar Series

On March 6, 2019, Professor Marko Loncar visited Caltech to give a seminar for the KNI Distinguished Seminar series. His talk, "New Opportunities with Old Optical Materials", discusses the unique properties of lithium niobate (LN) that have led the material to be a workhorse of the optoelectronics industry. In an effort to push the limits of this technology, the Loncar group is developing an integrated LN platform that could transform optical communication networks and help enable quantum photonic circuits. Lastly, Loncar touches on his group's work on an integrated diamond quantum photonics platform.

Marko Loncar is Tiantsai Lin Professor of Electrical Engineering at Harvard's John A Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), as well as Harvard College Professor. Loncar received his Diploma from University of Belgrade (R. Serbia) in 1997, and his PhD from Caltech in 2003 with Axel Scherer, both in Electrical Engineering. After completing his postdoctoral studies at Harvard with Federico Capasso, he joined SEAS faculty in 2006. Loncar is an expert in nanophotonics and nanofabrication, and his current research interests include quantum and nonlinear nanophotonics, quantum optomechanics, high-power optics, and nanofabrication. He received the NSF CAREER Award in 2009 and Sloan Fellowship in 2010. In recognition of his teaching activities, Loncar was awarded the 2012 Levenson Prize for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and was named Harvard College Professor in 2017. Loncar is a fellow of the Optical Society of America, and Senior Member of IEEE and SPIE.

The KNI Distinguished Seminar Series is a monthly series hosted by The Kavli Nanoscience Institute where eminent scientists and thinkers with strong yet varied backgrounds in nanoscience and nanotechnology share their expertise with the Caltech community. The scopes of presentations may range from: recent outstanding scientific highlights/technological advancements, to innovative early-stage research developments, to broader cross-disciplinary topics that are relevant to nanoscience. Each seminar is recorded and posted to the KNI YouTube channel.