Control of electromagnetic fields for energy applications

Abstract

Electromagnetic fields represent a fundamental aspect of nature, and serve as the primary carrier of energy. New abilities to control electromagnetic fields, as enabled for example by the developments of metamaterials and nanophotonic structures, can therefore have profound implications for energy technology. In this talk we will discuss some of our recent efforts in applying the concepts of electromagnetics towards developing new energy technologies, with examples including radiative cooling, and robust dynamic wireless power transfer.

Bio

Shanhui Fan is a Professor of Electrical Engineering, a Professor of Applied Physics (by courtesy), a Senior Fellow of the Precourt Institute for Energy, and the Director of the Edward L. Ginzton Laboratory, at the Stanford University. He received his Ph. D in 1997 in theoretical condensed matter physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His research interests are in fundamental studies of solid state and photonic structures and devices, especially photonic crystals, plasmonics, and meta-materials, and applications of these structures in energy and information technology applications. He has published over 500 refereed journal articles, has given over 350 plenary/keynote/invited talks, and was granted 62 US patents. Prof. Fan received a National Science Foundation Career Award (2002), a David and Lucile Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering (2003), the National Academy of Sciences W. O. Baker Award for Initiative in Research (2007), the Adolph Lomb Medal from the Optical Society of America (2007), and a Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship from the U. S. Department of Defense (2017).  He is a Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Researcher in Physics since 2015,  a Fellow of the IEEE, the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America,  and the SPIE.