The Lončar Lab // Laboratory for Nanoscale Optics

Yinan Zhang [yinan@seas]

Education

Doctor of Philosophy, Harvard University

Bachelor of Science, Tsinghua University (Beijing, China)

Yinan defended his PhD in Engineering Sciences from Harvard University in December 2012. In the early days of his PhD, he developed his expertise in designing optical nanocavities, and has demonstrated novel nanoscale lasers and light emitting devices based on III-V semiconductors. Recently, he has invented the first on-chip arbitrary optical filter for ultrafast pulse shaping. He has also co-invented microwave photonic crystal cavities for particle accelerations in collaboration with the Schlumberger-Doll Research Center. Besides being fascinated by the beauty of light, Yinan is an advocate of interdisciplinary collaborations, especially on projecting the power of mathematics and science to everything else in the world.

Graduate Consortium on Energy and Environment Fellowship, Harvard University, 2009-2010
Best Graduation Thesis Award, Tsinghua University, Jun 2007
Toshiba Fellowship, based on academic performance, 2005-2007
Nortel Networks Fellowship, based on academic performance, 2003-2005
1st Prize, Beijing Collegial Physics Competition, Dec 2004
1st Prize, China National Mathematics Olympiad, Mar 2003

“DIAMOND NANOWIRES”, T.M. Babinec, B.M. Hausmann, M. Khan, Y. Zhang, P.R. Hemmer, M. Lončar, Filed with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, EFS ID: 7439917, (2010)
“EFFICIENT TERAHERTZ SOURCES BASED ON DIFFERENCE-FREQUENCY GENERATION IN TRIPLY-RESONANT PHOTONIC RESONATORS”, J. Bravo-Abad, I.B. Burgess, J.D. Joannopoulos, S.G. Johnson, M. Lončar, M.W. McCutcheon, A.W. Rodriguez, M. Soljačić, Y. Zhang, Filed with U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, U.S. Serial Number 61/224,56 (2009)

2013

Y. Zhang, C. Li, M. Lončar, “Optimal broadband anti-reflective coatings,” Optics Letters Vol. 38, 646 (2013)

2012

P.B. Deotare, I.B. Bulu, I.W. Frank, Q. Quan, Y. Zhang, R. Ilic, and M. Lončar, “Broadband Reconfiguration of Optomechanical Filters,” Nature Communications, Vol. 3, 846 (2012)

2011

Y. Zhang, C. Hamsen, J.T. Choy, Y. Huang, J.H. Ryou, R. Dupuis, M. Lončar, "Photonic crystal disk lasers”, Optics Letters Vol. 36, No. 14, pp. 2704-2706 (2011)
Y. Zhang, I. Bulu, T. Botto, W.M. Tam, B. Levitt, M. Lončar, "High Q/V air-mode photonic crystal cavities at microwave frequencies", Optics Express 19, pp. 9371-9377 (2011)
M.W. McCutcheon, P.B. Deotare, Y. Zhang, M. Lončar, "Demonstration of high-Q TE-TM photonic crystal nanobeam cavities," Applied Physics Letters 98, 111117 (2011)

2010

Y. Zhang, M. Khan, Y. Huang, J.H. Ryou, P.B. Deotare, R. Dupuis, M. Lončar, “Photonic crystal nanobeam lasers,” Applied Physics Letters 97, 051104 (2010) [Selected for the August 16, 2010 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology]
B.M. Hausmann, M. Khan, Y. Zhang, T.M. Babinec, K. Martinick, M.W. McCutcheon, P.R. Hemmer, M. Lončar, "Fabrication of diamond nanowires for quantum information processing applications," Diamond and Related Materials, 01.011 (2010)
T.M. Babinec, B.M. Hausmann, M. Khan, Y. Zhang, J. Maze, P.R. Hemmer, M. Lončar, "A diamond nanowire single-photon source," Nature Nanotechnology 5, pp. 195-199 (2010) (Selected for Cover) [Highlighted in Nature Photonics Vol. 4, pp. 196 (2010)]

2009

I.B. Burgess*, Y. Zhang*, M.W. McCutcheon*, A.W. Rodriguez, J. Bravo-Abad, S.G. Johnson, and M. Lončar, "Efficient Terahertz Generation in Triply Resonant Nonlinear Photonic Crystal Microcavities", Optics Letters, Vol. 17, 20099 (2009) (*Equal contribution to the work)
Y. Zhang, M. W. McCutcheon and M. Lončar, "Ultra-high-Q dual-polarized photonic crystal nanocavities", Optics Letters, Vol. 34, 2694 (2009) [Selected for the September 28, 2009 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology]
M.W. McCutcheon, D. E. Chang, Y. Zhang, M. D. Lukin, and M. Lončar, "Broad-band spectral control of single photon sources using a nonlinear photonic crystal cavity," Optics Letters, Vol. 17, 22689 (2009)
I.B. Burgess, A.W. Rodriguez, M.W. McCutcheon, J. Bravo-Abad, Y. Zhang, S.G. Johnson, and M. Lončar, "Difference-frequency generation with quantum-limited efficiency in triply-resonant nonlinear cavities," Optics Express, Vol. 17, 9241 (2009)
Y. Zhang, M. Lončar, " Design and simulation of nanowire-based high Quality factor nanocavities", Proc. SPIE, Vol. 7223, 72230W (2009)
Y. Zhang, M. Lončar, "Submicrometer diameter micropillar cavities with high Quality factors and ultrasmall mode volumes", Optics Letters, Vol. 34, 902 (2009) [Selected for the April 27, 2009 issue of the Virtual Journal of Nanoscale Science and Technology]

2008

Y. Zhang, M. Lončar, "Ultra-high quality factor optical resonators based on semiconductor nanowires", Optics Express, Vol. 16, Issue 22, pp. 17400-17409 (2008)