Harry Albert Atwater, Jr. is an American

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 caus ...

and materials scientist and is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the Division of Engineering and Applied Science at the

California Institute of Technology The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...

. Currently he is the

Howard Hughes Howard Robard Hughes Jr. (December 24, 1905 – April 5, 1976) was an American business magnate, record-setting pilot, engineer, film producer, and philanthropist, known during his lifetime as one of the most influential and richest people in th ...

Professor of

Applied Physics Applied physics is the application of physics to solve scientific or engineering problems. It is usually considered to be a bridge or a connection between physics and engineering. "Applied" is distinguished from "pure" by a subtle combination ...

and Materials Science and the Director for the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), a Department of Energy Hub program for solar fuels. Atwater's scientific effort focuses on nanophotonic light-matter interactions and solar energy conversion. His current research in energy centers on high efficiency

photovoltaics Photovoltaics (PV) is the conversion of light into electricity using semiconducting materials that exhibit the photovoltaic effect, a phenomenon studied in physics, photochemistry, and electrochemistry. The photovoltaic effect is commercially us ...

, carbon capture and removal, and photoelectrochemical processes for generation of solar fuels. His research has resulted in world records for solar photovoltaic conversion and photoelectrochemical water splitting. His work also spans fundamental nanophotonic phenomena, in

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 opt ...

and 2D materials, and also applications including active metasurfaces and optical propulsion. From 2014 to 2020, Atwater served as Director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), the DOE Energy Innovation Hub for solar fuels. Atwater was an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001. Atwater is a Member of

US National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American Nonprofit organization, nonprofit, NGO, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along ...

, and a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher. He is also founder of 5 early-stage companies, including Captura, which is developing scalable approaches to carbon dioxide removal from oceanwater, and Alta Devices, which set world records for photovoltaic cell and module efficiency. He is also a Fellow of the SPIE as well as APS, MRS, Optica, and the

National Academy of Inventors The National Academy of Inventors (NAI) is a US non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging inventors in academia, following the model of the National Academies of the United States. It was founded at the University of South Florida in 2010. ...

. He is also the founding Editor in Chief of the journal ACS Photonics, and Chair of the LightSail Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot program. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 von Hippel Award of the Materials Research Society.

Biography

Atwater received his S.B. (1981), S.M. (1983), and Ph.D. (1987) in

electrical engineering Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...

from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

. He serves as Director of the DOE Energy Frontier Research Center on Light-Material Interactions in Solar Energy Conversion and was named Director of the Resnick Institute for Science, Energy and Sustainability, Caltech's largest endowed research program focused on energy. Atwater is founder and chief technical advisor for Alta Devices, a venture-backed company in Santa Clara, CA developing a transformational high efficiency/low cost photovoltaics technology, and Aonex Corporation, a compound semiconductor materials company. He has also served an editorial board member for Surface Review and Letters. Professor Atwater has actively served the materials community in various capacities, including

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 14,000 materials researchers from academi ...

Meeting Chair (1997), Materials Research Society President (2000), AVS Electronic Materials and Processing Division Chair (1999), and Board of Trustees of the Gordon Research Conferences. In 2008, he served as Chair for the Gordon Research Conference on Plasmonics. Since 2014, he has served as the editor-in-chief of the journal '' ACS Photonics'', published by the

American Chemical Society The American Chemical Society (ACS) is a scientific society based in the United States that supports scientific inquiry in the field of chemistry. Founded in 1876 at New York University, the ACS currently has more than 155,000 members at all d ...

. In 2015, Atwater was elected as a member into the

National Academy of Engineering The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...

for his contributions to plasmonics.

Research

Atwaters research interests center around two interwoven research themes:

and

solar energy Solar energy is radiant light and heat from the Sun that is harnessed using a range of technologies such as solar power to generate electricity, solar thermal energy (including solar water heating), and solar architecture. It is an essenti ...

; and

plasmon In physics, a plasmon is a quantum of plasma oscillation. Just as light (an optical oscillation) consists of photons, the plasma oscillation consists of plasmons. The plasmon can be considered as a quasiparticle since it arises from the quantiz ...

ics and optical

metamaterials A metamaterial (from the Ancient Greek, Greek word Meta, μετά ''meta'', meaning "beyond" or "after", and the Latin word ''materia'', meaning "matter" or "material") is any material engineered to have a property that is not found in naturally ...

. Atwater and his group have been active in photovoltaics research for more than 20 years. Together, aAtwater and his group have created new photovoltaic devices, including the silicon wire array solar cell, and layer-transferred fabrication approaches to III-V semiconductor III-V and multijunction cells, as well as making advances in plasmonic light absorber structures for III-V compound and silicon thin films. His research group's developments in the solar and plasmonics fields have been featured in ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many famous scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it. In print since 1845, it i ...

'' and in research papers such as ''

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

'', ''

Nature Materials ''Nature Materials'', is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by Nature Publishing Group. It was launched in September 2002. Vincent Dusastre is the launching and current chief editor. Aims and scope ''Nature Materials'' is focused on all ...

'', ''

Nature Photonics ''Nature Photonics'' is a peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the Nature Publishing Group. The editor-in-chief is Oliver Graydon. The journal covers research related to optoelectronics, laser science, imaging, communications, and other as ...

'' and ''

Advanced Materials ''Advanced Materials'' is a weekly peer-reviewed scientific journal covering materials science. It includes communications, reviews, and feature articles on topics in chemistry, physics, nanotechnology, ceramics, metallurgy, and biomaterials. Acco ...

''. Recently, his research has explanded to include the study of artificial photosynthesis to design fully-integrated photoelectrochemical (PEC) device for the production of renewable fuels. Additionally, Atwater's group is currently investigating the distinctive material characteristics of graphene as they relate to plasmonics that can be adjusted. Through the process of designing Fabry-Perot nanoresonators (small optical structures that consist of two parallel mirrors or reflectors separated by a nanoscale gap) onto a graphene sheet that has been doped and patterned, the Atwater group aims to observe a plasmonic resonance that changes in accordance with the size of the resonator.

Awards

Atwater is an MRS Fellow and has been honored by awards including the 2021 Von Hippel Award from the

; 2012

ENI award The Eni Award is a prize awarded by the Italian oil and gas company Eni with the aim of encouraging better use of energy sources and increased environmental research. The strict award guidelines and the notable names on the selection committee (in ...

for Renewable and Non-Conventional Energy; MRS Kavli Lecturer in Nanoscience in 2010; Popular Mechanics Breakthrough Award, 2010; Joop Los Fellowship from the Dutch Society for Fundamental Research on Matter in 2005, A.T. & T. Foundation Award, 1990; NSF Presidential Young Investigator Award, 1989; IBM Faculty Development Award, 1989–1990; Member, Bohmische Physical Society, 1990; IBM Postdoctoral Fellowship, 1987. He is a member of the

Selected publications

* Enright, Michael J.; Jasrasaria, Dipti; Hanchard, Mathilde M.; Needell, David R.; Phelan, Megan E.; Weinberg, Daniel; McDowell, Brinn E.; Hsiao, Haw-Wen; Akbari, Hamidreza; Kottwitz, Matthew; Potter, Maggie M.; Wong, Joeson; Zuo, Jian-Min; Atwater, Harry A.; Rabani, Eran (2022-05-05).
Role of Atomic Structure on Exciton Dynamics and Photoluminescence in NIR Emissive InAs/InP/ZnSe Quantum Dots
. ''The Journal of Physical Chemistry C''. 126 (17): 7576–7587. doi:10.1021/acs.jpcc.2c01499.

ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit serial number used to uniquely identify a serial publication, such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs ...

1932-7447 * Sullivan, Ian; Goryachev, Andrey; Digdaya, Ibadillah A.; Li, Xueqian; Atwater, Harry A.; Vermaas, David A.; Xiang, Chengxiang (November 2021).
Coupling electrochemical CO2 conversion with CO2 capture
. ''Nature Catalysis''. 4 (11): 952–958. doi:10.1038/s41929-021-00699-7.

2520-1158 * Digdaya, Ibadillah A.; Sullivan, Ian; Lin, Meng; Han, Lihao; Cheng, Wen-Hui; Atwater, Harry A.; Xiang, Chengxiang (2020-09-04).
A direct coupled electrochemical system for capture and conversion of CO2 from oceanwater
. ''Nature Communications''. 11 (1): 4412. doi:10.1038/s41467-020-18232-y.

2041-1723 * Ilic, Ognjen; Atwater, Harry A. (2019-04).
Self-stabilizing photonic levitation and propulsion of nanostructured macroscopic objects
. ''Nature Photonics''. 13 (4): 289–295. doi:10.1038/s41566-019-0373-y.

1749-4893 * R. Shaner, Matthew; A. Atwater, Harry; S. Lewis, Nathan; W. McFarland, Eric (2016).
A comparative technoeconomic analysis of renewable hydrogen production using solar energy
. ''Energy & Environmental Science''. 9 (7): 2354–2371. doi:10.1039/C5EE02573G * Callahan, Dennis M.; Munday, Jeremy N.; Atwater, Harry A. (2012-01-11).
Solar Cell Light Trapping beyond the Ray Optic Limit
. ''Nano Letters''. 12 (1): 214–218. doi:10.1021/nl203351k.

1530-6984 * Yokogawa, Sozo; Burgos, Stanley P.; Atwater, Harry A. (2012-08-08).
Plasmonic Color Filters for CMOS Image Sensor Applications
. ''Nano Letters''. 12 (8): 4349–4354. doi:10.1021/nl302110z.

1530-6984. * Aydin, Koray; Ferry, Vivian E.; Briggs, Ryan M.; Atwater, Harry A. (2011).
Broadband polarization-independent resonant light absorption using ultrathin plasmonic super absorbers
" ''Nature Communications''. 2 (1): 517. * * * Ferry, Vivian E.; Munday, Jeremy N.; Atwater, Harry A. (2010-11-16).
Design Considerations for Plasmonic Photovoltaics
. ''Advanced Materials''. 22 (43): 4794–4808. doi:10.1002/adma.201000488 * Ferry, Vivian E.; Verschuuren, Marc A.; Li, Hongbo B. T.; Verhagen, Ewold; Walters, Robert J.; Schropp, Ruud E. I.; Atwater, Harry A.; Polman, Albert (2010-06-21).
Light trapping in ultrathin plasmonic solar cells
. ''Optics Express''. 18 (102): A237–A245. doi:10.1364/OE.18.00A237.

1094-4087. * Dionne, Jennifer A.; Diest, Kenneth; Sweatlock, Luke A.; Atwater, Harry A. (2009-02-11).
PlasMOStor: A Metal−Oxide−Si Field Effect Plasmonic Modulator
. ''Nano Letters''. 9 (2): 897–902. doi:10.1021/nl803868k.

1530-6984. * Ferry, Vivian E.; Sweatlock, Luke A.; Pacifici, Domenico; Atwater, Harry A. (2008-12-10).
Plasmonic Nanostructure Design for Efficient Light Coupling into Solar Cells
. ''Nano Letters''. 8 (12): 4391–4397. doi:10.1021/nl8022548.

1530-6984. * * * * Atwater, Harry A. (2007).
The Promise of PLASMONICS
. ''Scientific American''. 296 (4): 56–63.

0036-8733. * *

References

External links/sources

Atwater's profile at CaltechAtwater Research Group WebsiteLight-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion Energy Frontier Research CenterResnick InstituteENI Award homepageHarry A. Atwater: SPIE Photonics West plenary presentation: Tunable and Quantum Metaphotonics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Atwater, Harry MIT School of Engineering alumni California Institute of Technology faculty Living people Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American physicists American electrical engineers American materials scientists Members of the United States National Academy of Engineering Optical physicists Optical engineers Metamaterials scientists American nanotechnologists 21st-century American physicists 20th-century American engineers 21st-century American engineers Fellows of the American Physical Society