Hometown, Country:
Belgrade, Serbia
Academic history prior to coming to MIT:
BA in physics, Harvard University
What brought you to MIT?
The beauty and the appeal of Prof. Soljacic’s work is that it is a combination of theory and experiment; from developing novel theoretical tools, to pioneering nanofabrication techniques, often all steps of device development happen in-house. Besides the ability to work on problems I find fascinating, I enjoy the mix of academic backgrounds within the group.
What problem are you trying to solve with your current research and what are some possible applications?
Broadly speaking, I am interested in various resonant phenomena related to light-matter interaction at the nanoscale. For example: in one project, I study radiative near-field energy transfer between plasmonic materials, including graphene; in another, I design and characterize photonic crystal filters used for light recycling. While we focus on understanding the underlying physics, our projects are often inspired by potential real-world applications, some of which include more efficient solar cells and efficient lighting.
What interests you most about your research?
Many problems of light-matter interaction at length scales much smaller than wavelength of light could – until recently – be analyzed only theoretically. Technological advances in nanoscale fabrication techniques allow us unprecedented control and manipulation of optical properties of matter. Given the diverse set of skills in our group, I particularly enjoy being able to pursue an idea from its theoretical conception and analysis all the way to experimental realization.
What are your future plans?
Academic or industry research
Learn more about the RLE Photonics and Modern Electro-Magnetics Group »