Team
Principle Investigator
Assistant Professor
Electrical & Computer Engineering Department
University of Florida
PD, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA 2023
Ph.D., University of Texas at Austin, USA 2021
M.Sc., Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan 2014
Elham Heidari, PhD - Google Scholar
Email: el (dot) heidari (at) ufl (dot) edu
Dr. Elham Heidari is an Assistant Professor, specializing in the design and implementation of integrated resonators for nonlinear and quantum optics, with a specific focus on all-optical frequency conversion applications and the development of compact and robust photonic platforms for generating and observing phenomena in Kerr combs. During her academic career, she has accrued nearly four years of work experience in cross-functional teams and experimental design and process development of the photonic interconnect devices such as high-speed short-wavelength semiconductor, plasmonic switches, low dimensional electro-optical modulator, chip-based wideband electromagnetic wave sensing, spectroscopy in Near-IR and MID-IR regions. Her work in this field has been published in prestigious academic journals, including Nature SR, Optica, IEEE JLT, and Nanophotonics. She has also successfully collaborated with various agencies to obtain research funding, including DOD, NASA, and the Department of Health and Human Services, where she served as senior personnel. Dr. Heidari holds a PhD and M. Eng in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas Austin and Tokyo Institute of Technology, respectively.
Graduate StudentS
Qian Cai
MSc., The George Washington University, USA 2023
BSc., Penn State University, USA 2021
Qian is an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) doctoral student at the University of Florida. Qian possesses a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in computer engineering, with an emphasis on computer architecture, FPGA programming, high-performance computing, secure computing, neural network (NN) training, and quantum technology. His main objective is to investigate the physics and design of photonics chips in optical computing. He is a student member of IEEE and OSA/Optica.
Tongyao Wu
MSc. in Physics, University of Florida, USA 2024
BSc., Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China 2021
Tongyao is an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) doctoral student who earned a bachelor's and master's degree in physics. He has a strong background in Photonics, quantum mechanics and semiconducting material. Tongyao is interested in quantum optics, optical nonlinear effects and optical angular momentum. He is currently working on the simulation and measurement of the Kerr nonlinearity and quantum photonic entanglement in the microring modulator. He is a student member of IEEE and OSA/Optica.
Master StudentS
Yumeng Zhang
B.E., Beijing Information Science and Technology University, 2020
Yumeng is an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) master student at the University of Florida with a focus area in Electronic Integrated Circuits. Her research interests are in IC design and on-chip photonic. Yumeng has cultivated a deep interest in Photonic Integrated Circuits (PIC), exploring how these can revolutionize communication networks, sensors, and computational systems by facilitating faster, more reliable data transmission with lower energy consumption.cs.
Mengze Qi
BCs.,Anhui University,China 2019
Mengze is an Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) master student at the University of Florida. Mengze possesses a bachelor’s degree in Applied Physics, with a solid foundation in quantum mechanics, polymer fiber optic engineering, optical waveguide and electrodynamics. His main research goal is the integration of low-energy consumption, highly integrated vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs).