Prof. Lan Yang
华盛顿大学
地点：唐仲英楼B501
时间：2017-07-17 14:00
Light-matter interactions are the fundamental basis for many phenomena and processes in optical devices. In this talk, I will introduce and explain ultra-high-quality (Q) optical whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) microresonators, in which light-matter interactions are significantly enhanced due to their superior capability to trap light field in a highly confined volume with low loss. WGM resonators have shown great promise for a variety of fields of science, spanning from optomechanics to on-chip microlasers, frequency comb, and ultra-sensitive label-free bio-chemical sensing. In this talk, after briefly introducing the physical concepts of WGM microresonators and an overview of the research discoveries in the past twenty years, I will report the recent progress in our group towards developing functional platforms using high-Q WGM microresonators and microlasers. First, I will present our discovery in using ultra-high-Q microresonators and microlasers for ultra-sensitive self-referencing detection and sizing of single virion, dielectric and metallic nanoparticles. These advancements in WGM microresonators will enable a new class of ultra-sensitive and low-power sensors for investigating the properties and kinetic behaviors of nanomaterials, nanostructures, and nanoscale phenomena. Then I will discuss the exploration of fundamental physics, such as parity-time symmetry and light-matter interactions around exceptional point (EP) in high-quality WGM resonators, which can be used to achieve a new generation of optical systems enabling unconventional control of light flow. Examples including nonreciprocal light transmission, loss engineering in a lasing system, directional lasing emission, and EPs enhanced sensing, will be introduced. In the end, I will present a new generic and hand-held microresonator platform transformed from a table-top setup, which will help release the power of high-Q WGM resonator technologies.
Professor Lan Yang is the Edwin H. and Florence G. Skinner professor in the Preston M. Green Department of Electrical and Systems Engineering at Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA. She received B.S. from the University of Science and Technology of China and received the Ph.D. in applied physics from Caltech in 2005. Her research interests have been focusing on the fundamental understanding of high-quality photonic whispering-gallery-mode (WGM) resonators and their applications for sensing, lasing, light harvesting, and communications. Recently, her research interests expanded to parity-time-symmetry and exceptional points in high-quality WGM resonators, which have led to a series of new discoveries for unconventional control of light transport in photonic structures. She received NSF CAREER Award in 2010 for her work on single nanoparticle detection and sizing using an on-chip optical resonator. She is also the recipient of the 2010 Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). She is a fellow of the Optical Society of America (OSA). She has published ~85 papers in peer-reviewed journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Photonics, Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Physics, and PNAS, etc.