Real-time Twisting On a Chip

Dr. Haoning Tang
Harvard Quantum Initiative
Postdoctoral Fellow

Optical nanostructures and two-dimensional materials (2DM) have optical properties that are widely tunable via several approaches, such as heating, electrostatic gating, and interfacial engineering such as twisting. Being able to tailor the interfacial properties in a similar real-time manner represents the next leap in our ability to modulate the underlying physics and build exotic photonics devices. We demonstrate the first on-chip platform designed for optical nanostructures and 2D materials with in situ tunable interfacial properties, utilizing a microelectromechanical system (MEMS). Each of these compact, cost-effective, and versatile devices is a standalone micromachine that allows voltage-controlled approaching, twisting, and pressurizing of two sheets of materials with high accuracy.

Bio: Haoning Tang is the Harvard Quantum Initiative Postdoctoral Fellow at John A. Paulson School of Engineering Applied Science at Harvard University. She obtained bachelor's degree at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in, and Ph.D. at Harvard. Her primary research interest is in the optical properties of metamaterials and low-dimensional materials, and the engineering of these properties through advanced nanotechnologies including micro-electricalmechanical systems (MEMS).