Yu Named 2022 Optica Fellow

Professor Nanfang Yu has been named a 2022 Optica Fellow "for the invention and development of metasurfaces and their application to imaging and cooling".

The Class of 2022 Fellows selected by Optica (formerly OSA) are those "who have served with distinction in the advancement of optics and photonics" and were recognized for "their contributions to education, research, engineering, business and serving the community." (Optica.org)

Nanfang Yu is an Associate Professor of Applied Physics at the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics, Columbia University. His lab conducts experimental research on “flat optics”, which are nanostructured low-dimensional materials that can control light in previously unimaginable ways.

Prof. Yu and his students work on three research themes related to flat optics: (1) metasurfaces, which are engineered 2D metamaterials that can control light waves propagating in free space in arbitrary ways, (2) integrated photonics, where light propagation and control are confined within networks of waveguides on a chip, and (3) biophotonics and bioinspired optical materials. The vision of Yu’s research is to replace conventional bulky optical devices and systems with their “flat” counterparts and to understand the life history of living systems from the point of view of photonics.

Before joining the faculty at Columbia University, Prof. Yu was a Research Associate in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University from 2009-2012. He received his Ph.D. in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in 2009, and his B.S. in Electronics from the Department of Electronics at Peking University, Beijing, China, in 2004.

Prof. Yu is the recipient of 2017 Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Director’s Fellowship, 2016 Office of Naval Research (ONR) Young Investigator Program Award, and 2015 DARPA Young Faculty Award.