Alexandra Boltasseva (born January 11, 1978) is Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of

electrical Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...

and

computer engineering Computer engineering (CE, CoE, or CpE) is a branch of engineering specialized in developing computer hardware and software. It integrates several fields of electrical engineering, electronics engineering and computer science. Computer engi ...

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, and

editor-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The editor-in-chief heads all departments of the organization and is held accoun ...

for

The Optical Society Optica, founded as the Optical Society of America (later the Optical Society), is a professional society of individuals and companies with an interest in optics and photonics. It publishes journals, organizes conferences and exhibitions, and ca ...

's ''

Optical Materials Express ''Optical Materials Express'' is a monthly peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Optica. It covers advances in and applications of optical materials, including but not limited to nonlinear optical materials, laser media, nanomaterials, me ...

'' journal. Her research focuses on

plasmonic metamaterial A plasmonic metamaterial is a metamaterial that uses surface plasmons to achieve optical properties not seen in nature. Plasmons are produced from the interaction of light with metal-dielectric materials. Under specific conditions, the incident ligh ...

s, manmade composites of metals that use

surface plasmon Surface plasmons (SPs) are coherent delocalized electron oscillations that exist at the interface between any two materials where the real part of the dielectric function changes sign across the interface (e.g. a metal-dielectric interface, such ...

s to achieve

optical properties The optical properties of a material define how it interacts with light. The optical properties of matter are studied in optical physics (a subfield of optics) and applied in materials science. The optical properties of matter include: *Refractiv ...

not seen in nature.

Education and career

Boltasseva studied her bachelor and masters in physics at the

Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (MIPT; , also known as PhysTech), is a public university, public research university located in Moscow Oblast, Russia. It prepares specialists in theoretical physics, theoretical and applied physics, ...

, completing her research projects on quantum-well lasers at the

Lebedev Physical Institute The Lebedev Physical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (LPI RAS or just LPI) (in ), situated in Moscow, is a Russian research institute specializing in physics. The institute was established in its present shape in 1934 by academician ...

. She moved to the

Technical University of Denmark The Technical University of Denmark (), often simply referred to as DTU, is a polytechnic university and school of engineering. It was founded in 1829 at the initiative of Hans Christian Ørsted as Denmark's first polytechnic, and it is today ran ...

for her PhD studies in

nanophotonics Nanophotonics or nano-optics is the study of the behavior of light on the nanometer scale, and of the interaction of nanometer-scale objects with light. It is a branch of optics, optical engineering, electrical engineering, and nanotechnology. I ...

and

nanofabrication Nanolithography (NL) is a growing field of techniques within nanotechnology dealing with the engineering (patterning e.g. etching, depositing, writing, printing etc) of nanometer-scale structures on various materials. The modern term reflects on ...

, working with Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi. Following her PhD, Boltasseva worked at two photonics start-up companies before returning to the

as a postdoc and subsequently an associate professor. In 2008 she moved to

and is currently the Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, as well as holding a courtesy appointment in Materials Engineering.

Research

Prof. A. Boltasseva’s team specializes in nano- and quantum photonics,

plasmonics Plasmonics or nanoplasmonics refers to the generation, detection, and manipulation of signals at optical frequencies along metal-dielectric interfaces in the nanometer scale. Inspired by photonics, plasmonics follows the trend of miniaturizing op ...

, optical metamaterials, optical materials, and

. The central theme of Boltasseva’s research is finding new ways for the discovery, realization, and machine-learning-assisted optimization of nanophotonic structures - from material growth to advanced photonic designs and device demonstrations. Prof. Boltasseva’s team aims at developing new platforms to unlock properties of nanophotonic structures in previously unavailable designs and wavelength regimes and to enable new generations of low-loss, tunable, reconfigurable, semiconductor-compatible devices for applications in on-chip circuitry,

information processing In cognitive psychology, information processing is an approach to the goal of understanding human thinking that treats cognition as essentially Computing, computational in nature, with the mind being the ''software'' and the brain being the ''hard ...

, data recording/storage, sensing, medical imaging and therapy, energy conversion and

quantum information Quantum information is the information of the state of a quantum system. It is the basic entity of study in quantum information theory, and can be manipulated using quantum information processing techniques. Quantum information refers to both t ...

technologies.

Awards, honors, memberships

A. Boltasseva's research earned her a number of awards: * 2023

Fellow of the American Physical Society The American Physical Society honors members with the designation ''Fellow'' for having made significant accomplishments to the field of physics. The following lists are divided chronologically by the year of designation. * List of fellows of the ...

"for important contributions to nanophotonics, plasmonics, and metamaterials, having made a broad impact in the multidisciplinary area merging optics, material science, and nanotechnology". * 2023 R.W. Wood Prize recipient * In 2021, for the second consecutive year named i
The Highly Cited Researchers™
list b
Clarivate™
* 2021 Fellow of the

Materials Research Society The Materials Research Society (MRS) is a non-profit, professional organization for materials researchers, scientists and engineers. Established in 1973, MRS is a member-driven organization of approximately 13,000 materials researchers from academi ...

"For her contributions to plasmonic and optical metamaterials including as plasmonic waveguides for on-chip circuitry, high-temperature nanophotonics, optical structures with extremely low refractive index, and tunable plasmonics" * 2020 Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors (NAI) * 2019 Fellow of the

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is an American 501(c)(3) public charity professional organization for electrical engineering, electronics engineering, and other related disciplines. The IEEE has a corporate office ...

(IEEE) * 2018 Blavatnik National Award for Young Scientists Finalist * 2017 Fellow of The International Society For Optics And Photonic (

SPIE SPIE (formerly the Society of Photographic Instrumentation Engineers, later the Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers) is an international not-for-profit professional society for optics and photonics technology, founded in 1955. It ...

) * 2015 Fellow of

"For seminal contributions to nanophotonics and new plasmonic materials." * 2013 IEEE Photonics Society Young Investigator Award "For seminal contributions to the development of metal-dielectric waveguides for integrated optics and novel approaches for realization of nanoplasmonic devices" * 2013 Materials Research Society Outstanding Young Investigator Award "For pioneering research to develop novel materials for advanced plasmonic, metamaterial and transformation optics devices with potential applications in future nanoscale photonic technologies" * 2011 MIT Technology Review Top Young Innovator (TR35) * 2009 University of Erlangen-Nuremberg Young Researcher Award in Advanced Optical Technologies * 2008 Young Elite-Researcher Award from the Danish Councils for Independent Research

Optical Society

Boltasseva was assigned as

for

's ''

'' journal in 2016, taking over the role from David J. Hagan, founding editor-in-chief.

Family

Spouse - Vladimir Shalaev

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boltasseva, Alexandra Living people American electrical engineers American computer scientists Purdue University faculty American women computer scientists 20th-century American engineers 20th-century American women engineers 21st-century American engineers 21st-century American women engineers Fellows of Optica (society) Fellows of the American Physical Society Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology alumni 1978 births 20th-century American scientists 21st-century American physicists Women in optics Russian emigrants to the United States People from Chuvashia 21st-century American women academics