Roberto D. Merlin is an

Argentine Argentines, Argentinians or Argentineans are people from Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical, or cultural. For most Argentines, several (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their ...

physicist A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe. Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate cau ...

and Peter A. Franken Collegiate Professor of Physics and Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the

University of Michigan The University of Michigan (U-M, U of M, or Michigan) is a public university, public research university in Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. Founded in 1817, it is the oldest institution of higher education in the state. The University of Mi ...

. He is known, among other things, for his work on

quasiperiodic Quasiperiodicity is the property of a system that displays irregular periodicity. Periodic behavior is defined as recurring at regular intervals, such as "every 24 hours". Quasiperiodic behavior is almost but not quite periodic. The term used to d ...

superlattice A superlattice is a periodic structure of layers of two (or more) materials. Typically, the thickness of one layer is several nanometers. It can also refer to a lower-dimensional structure such as an array of quantum dots or quantum wells. Dis ...

s, squeezed phonons, and, most recently, for the discovery of "superfocusing", a method for creating lenses that can surpass the

diffraction limit In optics, any optical instrument or systema microscope, telescope, or camerahas a principal limit to its resolution due to the physics of diffraction. An optical instrument is said to be diffraction-limited if it has reached this limit of res ...

without using negative refraction materials. Roberto Merlin was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He received his master's degree from the

University of Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires (, UBA) is a public university, public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. It is the second-oldest university in the country, and the largest university of the country by enrollment. Established in 1821 ...

in 1973 and his doctorate from the

University of Stuttgart The University of Stuttgart () is a research university located in Stuttgart, Germany. It was founded in 1829 and is organized into 10 faculties. It is one of the oldest technical universities in Germany with programs in civil, mechanical, ind ...

in 1978. His graduate advisor was Professor Manuel Cardona. After a postdoctoral position in the group of Professor Miles V. Klein at the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United States. Established in 1867, it is the f ...

, he joined the Physics faculty of the

in 1980.Merlin, R. (2010). "Professional and Academic Essentials." http://www-personal.umich.edu/~merlin/brief-cv.html In 1985 he was promoted to associate professor, and then professor in 1989. From 1993 to 1996, Merlin served as Associate Chair for Research and Facilities of the Department of Physics. In 2000, he received a joint appointment to the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is now the director of the Optical Physics Interdisciplinary Laboratory.University of Michigan (2012). "Optical Physics Interdisciplinary Laboratory." http://www.umich.edu/~opil/opil_001.htm Merlin is a fellow of the

American Physical Society The American Physical Society (APS) is a not-for-profit membership organization of professionals in physics and related disciplines, comprising nearly fifty divisions, sections, and other units. Its mission is the advancement and diffusion of ...

, the

Optical Society of America 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 ...

, the

von Humboldt Foundation The term () is used in German surnames either as a nobiliary particle indicating a noble patrilineality, or as a simple preposition used by commoners that means or . Nobility directories like the often abbreviate the noble term to ''v.'' I ...

, and the

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

. In 2006 he received the Frank Isakson Prize for Optical Effects in Solids from the American Physical Society. He received the Ellis R. Lippincott Award in 2017. Merlin does a variety of interdisciplinary work, mostly related to condensed matter physics. He has done research on

Raman spectroscopy Raman spectroscopy () (named after physicist C. V. Raman) is a Spectroscopy, spectroscopic technique typically used to determine vibrational modes of molecules, although rotational and other low-frequency modes of systems may also be observed. Ra ...

rare-earth magnet semiconductors The rare-earth elements (REE), also called the rare-earth metals or rare earths, and sometimes the lanthanides or lanthanoids (although scandium and yttrium, which do not belong to this series, are usually included as rare earths), are a set of ...

superconductors Superconductivity is a set of physical properties observed in superconductors: materials where electrical resistance vanishes and magnetic fields are expelled from the material. Unlike an ordinary metallic conductor, whose resistance decreases ...

, superlattices, ultrafast lasers,

intercalated graphite Intercalation may refer to: *Intercalation (chemistry), insertion of a molecule (or ion) into layered solids such as graphite *Intercalation (timekeeping), insertion of a leap day, week or month into some calendar years to make the calendar follo ...

, and

negative refraction In optics, negative refraction is the Electromagnetism, electromagnetic phenomenon where light ray (optics), rays become refraction, refracted at an Interface (chemistry), interface that is opposite to their more commonly observed positive refrac ...

.University of Michigan (2013). "Faculty Profile: Roberto Merlin." https://www.lsa.umich.edu/physics/directory/faculty/ci.merlinroberto_ci.detail

Selected publications

* *

External links

New superlens could run rings around the rest
New Scientist, July 12, 2007

New Scientist, April 24, 2008

References

Argentine physicists University of Michigan faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Rare earth scientists {{physicist-stub