Research Programming Light-Matter Interactions
Manipulation by Light
Optical tweezers have revolutionized light-driven manipulation, yet their reliance on optical forces limits the range and versatility of control. Inspired by natural transport phenomena such as wind and ocean currents, we harness light-induced heating, cooling, and temperature gradients to control matter.
We develop versatile, energy-efficient optothermal manipulation platforms that harness light-driven multiphysical fields to program the motion, interactions, structure, composition, and properties of matter across spatial and temporal scales. Integrated with artificial intelligence, these platforms evolve into self-driving engines for advanced manufacturing, micro/nanorobotic systems, autonomous experimentation, and accelerated scientific discovery.
Manipulation of Light
We engineer materials and architectures across length scales to control how light is generated, confined, coupled, and transformed. By exploiting quantum materials and architected photonic structures, from individual resonators such as optical cavities and nanoparticles to collective architectures such as photonic crystals, metamaterials, and topological photonic platforms, we engineer light-matter interactions to control light across its physical and informational degrees of freedom, including fields, forces, phases, thermal properties, chirality, directionality, and information.
Nature-inspired strategies and AI-driven inverse design allow us to explore increasingly complex photonic materials and architectures. To bring these designs to life, we develop all-in-one light-driven manufacturing platforms for sustainable, freeform fabrication and hierarchical integration of materials with different compositions across multiple length scales. Through advanced measurements, we link material composition and architecture to optical responses, uncovering how building blocks interact and organize to produce emergent phenomena and guiding their applications across diverse technologies.
Measurement Systems
By integrating manipulation by light, manipulation of light, and artificial intelligence, we develop a new generation of intelligent optical measurement technologies that can sense, analyze, and adapt to complex physical and biological systems.
We combine optical microscopy, optical rotation, and machine learning to achieve high-resolution volumetric imaging and organism classification. Our mechanoscopy platforms quantify dynamic cell-cell interactions, cell-substrate adhesion, and receptor-ligand binding forces in controlled biocompatible environments. We also develop chiroptical spectroscopy systems for sensitive, label-free enantiodiscrimination. These platforms transform light from a passive probe into an active tool for measurement, analysis, and discovery.