Faculty

MARIN SOLJAČIĆ
Professor

MARIN SOLJACIC, Assistant Professor of Physics

Name: Marin Soljačić

Title(s): Professor of Physics

Email: soljacic@mit.edu

Phone: (617) 253-2467

Assistant: Margaret O'Meara (617) 253-4878

Address:

Massachusetts Institute of Technology
77 Massachusetts Avenue, Bldg. 6C-419
Cambridge, MA 02139

Related Links:

Area of Physics:

Condensed Matter Theory

Research Interests

Technological advances of the past decade have enabled the control of the material structure at length-scales smaller than the wavelength of light. This enabled the creation of new materials, e.g., photonic bandgap crystals, or various surface plasmon systems, whose optical properties are dramatically different than those of any naturally occurring material. For example, nanostructured materials which display diffraction-less propagation of light, exhibit negative refraction, or support very slow propagation of light, have all been demonstrated. Professor Soljacic's interests are in exploring the new and exciting physical phenomena supported by these materials.

The unique properties of these new materials have already enabled a wide range of very important applications, e.g., in medicine, telecommunications, defense, etc., and are expected to do so even more in the future. Professor Soljačić is also interested in various topics in nonlinear optical physics. Maxwell's equations as presented in most undergraduate text books are linear. However, all materials in nature are nonlinear (including vacuum), and sure enough, at high light intensities, optical phenomena become nonlinear, displaying a wide range of rich and beautiful behavior. For example, almost every general non-linear dynamics phenomenon, e.g., solitons, pattern formation, fractals, etc., can now be studied in optical material systems. More recently, Prof. Soljačić also became interested in investigating the feasibility of wireless power transfer, which he and colleagues have dubbed "WiTricity."

Biographical Sketch

Marin Soljačić has been an Assistant Professor of Physics since September 2005. He received a BsE degree in physics and electrical engineering from MIT in 1996, and earned his PhD in physics at Princeton University in 2000. In September 2000, he was named an MIT Pappalardo Fellow in Physics, and in 2003 was appointed a Principal Research Scientist in the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT. He is the recipient of the Adolph Lomb medal from the Optical Society of America (2005). He was promoted to Full Professor in July 2011.

Selected Publications

  • "Coherent optical photons from shock waves in crystals," Evan Reed, Marin Soljačić, Richard Gee, and J.D.Joannopoulos. Phys. Rev. Lett., 96, 013904 (2006).
  • "Surface-Plasmon-assisted guiding of broadband slow and subwavelength light in air," Aristeidis Karalis, E.Lidorikis, Mihai Ibanescu, J.D.Joannopoulos, and Marin Soljačić. Phys. Rev. Lett. 95, 063901 (2005).
  • “Enhancement of non-linear effects using photonic crystals,” Marin Soljačić, and J.D. Joannopoulos. Invited review article in Nature Materials, 3, p.211 (2004).
  • "Collisions of two solitons in an arbitrary number of coupled nonlinear Schrodinger equations," Marin Soljačić, Ken Steiglitz, Suzanne M. Sears, Mordechai Segev, Mariusz H. Jakubowski, and Richard Squier. Phys. Rev. Lett., 90, 254102 (2003).
  • "Color of shock waves in photonic crystals," Evan Reed, Marin Soljačić, and J.D.Joannopoulos. Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 203904 (2003).
  • "Pattern formation in a cavity longer than the coherence length of the light in it," Tal Carmon, Marin Soljačić, and Mordechai Segev. Phys. Rev. Lett. 89, 183902 (2002).

Last updated: 04.01.2013