Reshaping light with meta-opticsReshaping light with meta-optics | Tian Gu Tian Gu | TEDxMIT

Conventional optical systems usually require complicated and bulky multi-lens assemblies to meet the growing performance needs in many applications. Tian Gu discusses opportunities to use novel metasurface optics (meta-optics) technology that offers on-demand control of light to enable flat optical systems and solutions with high performance, small form factor, and new functionalities. Leveraging advanced design concepts and materials, ultra-compact flat optics with unprecedented performance have been realized, including the first single-piece meta-lens with a record hemispherical field-of-view and aberration-free imaging capability, reconfigurable meta-optics without mechanical moving parts, as well as new optical architectures. Such innovations can be used to transform various applications that traditionally rely on bulky optical systems, such as imaging, sensing, augmented/virtual reality, navigation, etc. Tian Gu is a Research Scientist at MIT, where he is the co-Investigator of the Photonic Materials Research Group. His primary research interests involve nano-/micro-optics, integrated photonics, and photonic materials, focusing on the areas of metasurface flat optics, optical phase change materials, data communications, on-chip spectroscopy, photovoltaics, flexible photonics, etc. He is also the co-Founder and President of LyteChip Inc., an MIT spin-off company that develops advanced optics and photonics technologies. He received his B.S. degree from Beijing Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering, and Ph.D. degree from University of Delaware in Electrical and Computer Engineering.

He is a topic chair of IEEE Summer Topicals Meeting on Reconfigurable Optics and Photonics and served on the conference program committees for CLEO, IEEE Photonics Conference, IEEE Optical Interconnects Conference, IEEE SENSORS, International Congress on Glass, International Conference on Concentrator Photovoltaic Systems, etc. He is a recipient of the SPIE Rising Researcher Award, R&D 100 Award, TechConnect National Innovation Award, among others. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx