CURRICULUM VITAE
NAME: Federico Capasso
ADDRESS: School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Harvard University
205 A Pierce Bldg
29 Oxford Street
Cambridge MA 02138
PHONE: (617) 384-7611 FAX: (617) 495-2875
EMAIL:
PERSONAL: Married; two children
CITIZENSHIP: Italian and U.S. (Naturalized; 09/23/1992)
EDUCATION:
1973 Doctor of Physics, Cum Laude
University of Rome, Italy
1973-1974 Postdoctoral Fellow
Fondazione Bordoni, Rome, Italy
ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS
Jan. 2003- Robert Wallace Professor of Applied Physics
Vinton Hayes Senior Research Fellow in Electrical Engineering
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (formerly, Division) Harvard University, Cambridge, MA
PROFESSIONAL POSITIONS:
2000 – 2002 Vice President of Physical Research, Bell Laboratories
Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ
1997- 2000 Department Head, Semiconductor Physics Research, Bell Laboratories
Lucent Technologies, Murray Hill, NJ.
1987- 1997 Department Head, Quantum Phenomena and Device Research, Bell Laboratories Lucent Technologies (formerly AT&T Bell Labs, until 1996), Murray Hill, NJ
1984 – 1987 Distinguished Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
1977 – 1984 Member of Technical Staff, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ
1976 – 1977 Visiting Scientist, Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
1974 – 1976 Research Physicist, Fondazione Bordoni, Rome, Italy
Honors
Awards:
2013 Gold Medal of SPIE
2013 European Physical Society Quantum Electronics and Optics Award
2013 Humboldt Research Award
2011 Jan Czochralski Award of the European Materials Research Society
2011 Galileo Galilei Medal of the Italian Society for Optics and Photonics
2010 Julius Springer Prize in Applied Physics
2010 Berthold Leibinger Zukunft Prize (Future prize)
2005 King Faisal International Prize for Science
2005 Gold Medal of the President of Italy for meritorious achievement in science
2004 Edison Medal, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE)
2004 Arhur Schawlow Prize in Laser Science, American Physical Society
2004 Tommasoni & Chisesi Prize for Outstanding Achievements in Physics
2003 Goff Smith Prize and Lecture, University of Michigan
2002 Duddell Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics (London, UK)
2001 Robert Wood Prize of the Optical Society of America
2000 Willis E. Lamb Medal for Laser Physics and Quantum Optics
2000 NASA Group Achievement Award
1998 IEEE/Laser & Electrooptics Society W. Streifer Award for Scientific
Achievement
1998 Rank Prize in Optoelectronics (UK)
1998 Capitolium Prize of the Mayor of Rome, Italy
1997 Wetherill Medal of the Franklin Institute
1997 Bell Laboratories Fellow Award
1995 Materials Research Society Medal
1995 Moet Hennessy·Louis Vuitton “Leonardo da Vinci” Award of Excellence (France)
1995 Newcomb Cleveland Prize of the American Assosciation for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS) for best paper published in Science
1995 Electronics Letters Prize of the Institute of Electrical Engineers (London, UK)
1994 Heinrich Welker Memorial Medal (Germany) and International CompoundSemiconductors Symposium Award
1993 The New York Academy of Sciences Award
1991 IEEE David Sarnoff Award in Electronics
1984 Bell Laboratories Distinguished Member of Technical Staff Award
Memberships/Fellowships
2012 – Foreign Member, Accademia dei Lincei
1995 - Member, National Academy of Sciences
1996 - Member, National Academy of Engineering
1998 - Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1999 - Fellow, The Institute of Physics (UK)
1997- Honorary Member, of the Franklin Institute
1992 - Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science
1991 - Fellow, International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE)
1989 - Fellow, Optical Society of America
1987 - Fellow, Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers
1986 - Fellow, American Physical Society
Honorary Doctorates and Other Honors
2011 Honorary Doctorate University Paris Diderot, France
2011 Honorary Doctorate of Technology, Lund University, Sweden
2011 Honorary Doctorate in Materials Science, University of Roma III, Italy
2003 Honorary Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, University of Bologna, Italy
2004 Commendatore of the Italian Republic
SCIENTIFIC HIGHLIGHTS
1. Quantum Cascade Lasers (QCLs) and Bandstructure Enginrering.
These lasers, represent the most important highlight of the research of Capasso and his team over a 20 year period on band-structure engineering, a technique to design and implement artificially structured ( “man-made”) semiconductor ,materials and related phenomena/ devices, of which he is the pioneer and which revolutionized the design of heterojunction devices. Invented and demonstrated by Capasso and his group in 1994, QCLs are the first lasers in which the emission wavelength can be tailored over an extreme broad range using quantum design. They have revolutionized mid-infrared photonics, as they represent the first high performance and reliable semiconductor lasers for this technologically and scientifically important spectral region. They are finding widespread use in scientific and industrial applications: high-resolution spectroscopy, chemical sensing and trace gas analysis, atmospheric chemistry, combustion and medical diagnostics. Numerous companies are commericializing QC lasers and related sensors .
A tutorial account of Capasso's research on quantum cascade lasers has appeared in a book for a lay audience on materials research by Ivan Amato ("Stuff: the materials the world is made of", Basic Books, New York, NY, 1997) and in the article "Diminishing dimensions" in a special issue of Scientific American, entitled the Solid-State Century, 1997-1998.
2. Quantum phenomena in nanostructures and novel heterostrcuture /quantum devices
§ Observation of electronic bound-states in the continuum above a potential well, verifying a 1929 prediction by Von Neumann and Wigner.
§ Coupled quantum well semiconductors with giant intersubband nonlinear optical susceptibilities, probably the highest ever observed. These nonlinearities have been successfully used by Capasso and his group within the active region of QC lasers to further enhance their wavelength agility and functionality.
§ Demonstration of tunable band discontinuities with doping interface dipoles. This method has for the first time made it possible to tailor a fundamental property of heterojunctions.
§ Observation of resistance resonance associated with quantum interference in coupled quantum wells.
§ Tunable Fano interference in potential wells.
§ Observation of sequential resonant tunneling through a quantum well superlattice.
§ Observation of giant photoconductive gain by effective mass filtering.
§ Invention of solid-state photomultipliers.
§ Invention and demonstration of resonant tunneling bipolar transistors and circuits with reduced complexity. This work has stimulated new research in multiple valued logic and multilevel coding.
3. Physics of deformed laser resonators
· Bow-tie lasers based on chaotic resonators;
· Kolmogorov-Arnold-Moser transition to chaos in deformed semiconductor lasers
· Whispering gallery mode lasers with highly directional emission: elliptical notched resonators and Limaçon resonators
4. Plasmonics and Metasurfaces.
· Generalized laws of reflection and refraction demonstrated and theoretical derived for a general class of designer metasurfaces.
· Flat optics based on metasurfaces such as aberration free flat lenses, vortex plates, background free quarter wave plates
· New surface plasmon coupling coupler (fishbone grating), allowing for the first time polarization controlled directional coupling.
· Plasmonic laser antennas with ultrahigh intensity nanoscale spots in the near-field
· Wavefront engineering of light sources including highly collimated mid-ir and fra-ir semiconductor lasers; multibeam collimated lasers, etc.
· Core-shell nanoparticles clusters (trimers, quadrumers and heptamers) exhibiting magnetic activity in the near infrared and giant Fano resonances.
5. Casimir forces
This research has focused on basic studies of the Casimir effect, i.e. the attractive force between uncharged metals and dielectrics due to vacuum fluctuations, using MicroElectroMechanicalSystems (MEMS) and atomic force techniques and of the repulsive Casmir force. This line of research is ultimately aimed at engineering these quantum electrodynamical forces by designing quantum fluctuations through controlled changes (shapes and materials) of the boundary conditions of the electromagnetic fields.
Highights of this work are:
· First measurement of the repulsive Casimir-Lifshitz force .
· Demonstration of actuators and nonlinear oscillators using the Casimir force, the observation of the effect of the skin depth on the Casimir force;
· Observation of the Casimir effect in a fluid
Publications
Invited Papers
Alejandro W. Rodriguez, Pui-Chuen Hui, David P. Woolf, Steven G. Johnson, Marko Lonˇcar, and Federico Capasso, “Classical and fluctuation-induced electromagnetic interactions in micron-scale systems: designer bonding, antibonding, and Casimir forces”, Ann. Phys. (Berlin), DOI 10.1002/andp.201400160 (2014)
Nanfang Yu and Federico Capasso, Flat optics with designer metasurfaces
Nature Materials 13, 139 (2014)
Nanfang Yu, Patrice Genevet, Francesco Aieta, Mikhail A. Kats, Romain Blanchard, Guillaume Aoust, Jean-Philippe Tetienne, Zeno Gaburro, and Federico Capasso “Flat Optics: Controlling Wavefronts with Optical Antenna Metasurfaces” IEEE J. Selected Topics in Quantum Electron.19, 4700423 (2013)
Nanfang Yu, Qijie Wang, Federico Capasso “Beam engineering of quantum cascade lasers” Laser & Photonics Reviews 6, 24 (2012)
Y. Chassagneux, Q. J. Wang, S. P. Khanna, E. Strupiechonski, J. R. Coudevylle, E. H. Linfield, A. G. Davies, F. Capasso, M. A. Belkin, R. Colombelli “Limiting factors to the temperature performance of THz quantum cascade lasers based on the resonant-phonon depopulation scheme” IEEE Transactions on Terahertz Science and Technology 2, 83 (2012)
Alejandro W. Rodriguez, Federico Capasso, Steven G. Johnson; “ Designing evanescent optical interactions to control the expression of Casimir forces in optomechanical structures” Nature Photonics 5, 211 (2011)
Patrice Genevet, Jean-Philippe Tetienne, Romain Blanchard, Mikhail A. Kats, J. P. Balthasar Muller, Marlan O. Scully, Federico Capasso; Enhancement of optical processes in coupled plasmonic nanocavities” Applied Optics 50, 56 (2011)
Aleksander K. Woijcik, Nanfang Yu, Federico Capasso, Alexey Belyanin; “Nonlinear optical interactions of laser modes in quantum cascade lasers” Journal of Modern Optics 58, 727 (2011)
Federico Capasso; “High-performance midinfrared quantum cascade lasers”
Journal of Optical Engineering 49, 111102 (2010)
Nanfang Yu, Federico Capasso; “Wavefront engineering for mid-infrared and terahertz quantum cascade lasers” Journal of Optical Society of America B 27, 18 (2010)
Mariano A Zimmler, Federico Capasso,Sven Muller, Carsten Ronning
“Optically pumped nanowire lasers : invited review” Semiconductor Science and Technology 25, 24001 (2010)
Robert F. Curl, Federico Capasso, Claire Gmachl, Anatoliy A. Kosterev, Barry McManus, Rafał Lewicki, Michael Pusharsky, Gerard Wysocki, Frank K. Tittel, “Quantum Cascade Lasers in Chemical Physics” Chemical Physics Letters, 487, 1 (2010)
Nanfang Yu, Romain Blanchard, Jonathan Fan, QiJie Wang, Christian Pflugl, Laurent Diehl, Tadataka Edamura, Shinichi Furuta, Masamichi Yamanishi, Hirofumi Kan, Federico Capasso, “Plasmonics for laser beam shaping”, IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology 9, 11 (2010)
Federico Capasso, Nanfang Yu, Ertugrul Cubukcu Elizabeth Smythe “Using plasmonics to shape light beams” Optics and Photonics News , 20, 22 (2009)
Mikhail A. Belkin, Qi Jie Wang, Christian Pflugl, Alexey Belyanin, Suraj P. Khanna, Alexander Giles Davies, Edmund Harold Linfield, Federico Capasso, “High-temperature operation of terahertz quantum cascade laser sources”, IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 15, 952 (2009)
E. Cubukcu, N. Yu, E. J. Smythe, L. Diehl, K. B. Crozier, and Federico Capasso, “Plasmonic laser antennas and related devices” IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics 14, 1448 (2008)
F. Capasso, J.N. Munday, D. Iannuzzi, and H.B. Chan, “Casimir forces and quantum electrodynamical torques: Physics and nanomechanics.” IEEE Journal Selected Topics Quantum Electronics 13(2): 400 (2007).
A. Ozcan, E. Cubukcu, A. Bilenca, B.E. Bouma, F. Capasso, and G.J. Tearney. “Differential near-field scanning optical miscroscopy using sensor arrays.” IEEE J Selected Topics Quantum Electronics 13: 1721 (2007).
F. Capasso, R. Paiella, R. Martini, R. Colombelli, C. Gmachl, T.L. Myers, M.S. Taubman, R.M. Williams, C.G. Bethea, K. Unterrainer, H.Y. Hwang, D.L. Sivco, A.Y. Cho, A.M. Sergent, H.C. Liu, E.A. Whittaker. “Quantum cascade lasers: Ultrahigh-speed operation, optical wireless communication, narrow linewidth, and far-infrared emission.” IEEE J Quantum Electron 38: 511 (2002).
C. Gmachl, A. Straub, R. Colombelli, F. Capasso, D.L. Sivco, A.M. Sergent, and A.Y. Cho. “Single-mode, tunable distributed-feedback and multiple-wavelength quantum cascade lasers.” IEEE J Quantum Electron 38: 569 (2002).
F. Capasso, R. Colombelli, R. Paiella, C. Gmachl, A. Tredicucci, D.L. Sivco, A.Y. Cho. “Far infrared and ultra-high-speed quantum cascade lasers.” Optics & Photonics News 12: 40 (2001).
F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, R. Paiella, A. Tredicucci, A.L. Hutchinson, D.L. Sivco, J.N. Baillargeon, A.Y. Cho, and H.C. Liu. “New frontiers in quantum cascade lasers and applications.” Special Millenium Issue: IEEE J Quant Elect 6: 931 (2000).
C. Gmachl, F. Capasso, D.L. Sivco, and A.Y. Cho. “Recent progress in quantum cascade lasers and applications.” Rep Progress Physics 64: 1533 (2001).
F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, D.L. Sivco, A.L. Hutchinson, and A.Y. Cho. "High performance quantum cascade casers." Optics & Photonics News 10: 31 (1999).
F. Capasso, C. Gmachl, D.L. Sivco and A.Y. Cho. "Quantum cascade lasers." Physics World 12: 27 (1999).
F. Capasso, J. Faist, and C. Sirtori. “Comments on quantum cascade lasers.” Physica Scripta T68: 113 (1996).
F. Capasso, J. Faist, C. Sirtori, D.L. Sivco, J.N. Baillargeon, A.L. Hutchinson, and A.Y. Cho. “Quantum cascade lasers: New resonant tunnelling light sources for the mid-infrared.” Trans. Royal Society London Series A: Mathematical, Physical & Engineering Sciences 354: 2463 (1996).
F. Capasso, J. Faist, C. Sirtori, A.L. Hutchinson, D.L. Sivco, and A.Y. Cho. “Quantum cascade lasers.” Institute Physics Conference Series 145: 1047 (1996).
F. Capasso. “Band-structure engineering of quantum microstructures.” Nuovo Cimento Dela Societa Italian Di Fisica B: General Phys Relativity, Astronomy & Mathematical Phys & Methods 110 (5-6): 501 (1995).
F. Capasso, C. Sirtori, and A.Y. Cho. “Quantum well quasimolecules with nonlinear optical properties and new heterostructures with continuum bound states.” Optoelectronics Devices & Technologies 8: 479 (1994).
F. Capasso and A.Y. Cho. “Bandgap engineering of semiconductor heterostructures by molecular beam epitaxy: Physics and applications.” Surface Science 299 (1-3): 878 (1994).
F. Capasso. “Quantum electron and optoelectronic devices.” Microelectronic Engineering 19(1-4): 909 (1992).
F. Capasso. “Heterojunction band discontinuities and tunable band offsets – building-clocks for bandgap engineering.” Applied Surface Science 56-8: 723 (1992).
F. Capasso. “Bandgap and interface engineering for advanced electronic and photonic devices.” Thin Solid Films 216(1): 59 (1992).
F. Capasso. “Quantum electron and optoelectronic devices.” Microelectronics Eng 19: 909 (1992).
F. Capasso, S. Sen, L. M. Lunardi, and A. Y. Cho. “Quantum devices and circuits.” IEEE Circuits & Devices 7: 18 (1991).
F. Capasso. “Bandgap and interface engineering for advanced electronics and photonic devices.” MRS Bulletin 16: 23 (1991).
F. Capasso and S. Datta. “Quantum electron devices.” Physics Today 43: 74 (1990).