Evgenii - 2019 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award

Evgenii Narimanov – 2019 Arden L. Bement Jr. Award

Evgenii Narimanov is a professor of electrical and computer engineering in the College of Engineering. He received his master's degree in applied mathematics and physics and PhD in semiconductor physics from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology.

After working at Yale University, Bell Labs/Lucent Technologies, and Princeton University, Narimanov joined Purdue University in 2007 as an associate professor. He became full professor in 2013.

His current research includes nanophotonics, physics of metamaterials, and information theory for optical imaging. Narimanov's work in optics and optoelectronics is recognized nationally and internationally. He has been credited with a series of research breakthroughs — from the development of the high-power microlasers with wave-chaotic dynamics, to the derivation of the fundamental information-theoretical limit on the communication rates in nonlinear fiber-optical networks. His pioneering work in hyperbolic metamaterials and discovery of the hyperlens has led to an optical device capable of resolution beyond the diffraction limit.

Narimanov has authored and co-authored four book chapters, more than 100 peer-reviewed articles, and has made more than 100 conference presentations, including many invited and keynote talks. He has been awarded six U.S. patents.

He has been named Purdue University Faculty Scholar and is the recipient of the National Science Foundation Career Award. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and the Optical Society of America.

Optical Hyperspace: Light in Hyperbolic Metamaterials

Abstract

Hyperbolic metamaterials are strongly anisotropic composite media that behave as either metals or dielectrics in different directions. They can be fabricated in many different ways, such as metallic layers that are separated from each other by thin dielectric spacers, or using arrays of parallel metallic nanowires in a dielectric material.

Unique optical properties of hyperbolic metamaterials — from negative refraction to diffraction-less propagation and subwavelength focusing to accelerated light emission to enhanced radiative heat transfer — are transforming the ways we think about optical imaging, light-wave communications, and electromagnetic energy harvesting.

Research Accomplishments

Narimanov is a pioneer in the research field of metamaterials that recently emerged on the crossroads of photonics and nanotechnology. He is known for his work on hyperbolic metamaterials, which are anisotropic composites with unique electromagnetic properties — an area that he introduced and developed into an exciting and groundbreaking field. Over the last decade, the studies of hyperbolic metamaterials grew to the point of forming an important and highly impactful field of optics and photonics, with about 2,000 research papers published per year in the subject.

Among many research accomplishments in science and engineering, Narimanov and his collaborators have:

• Pioneered the use of an information theory approach in the analysis of optical communications systems in nonlinear regime.
• Initiated the study of nanolasers with wave-chaotic dynamics, and demonstrated the role of optical Anderson localization in the performance of light-emitting devices.
• Discovered the singularity in the photonic density of states in hyperbolic metamaterials. This singularity has major impact on light absorption, emission, and reflection by structures made of hyperbolic metamaterials, and has far-reaching implications for the fundamental physics of optical media and many potential applications.
• Introduced the hyperlens, a high-resolution optical imaging device based on hyperbolic metamaterials that is considered one of the most exciting and innovative applications of metamaterials.
• Pioneered the concept of photonic hypercrystals that combine the properties of hyperbolic materials and photonic crystals and offer a dramatic improvement in the performance of ultra-fast, light-emitting diodes for optical communications and photonic interconnects.