Exoplanet Imaging
My current research interest is in imaging planets and disks orbiting stars other than our sun. The main technical challenge with taking these images is blocking the much brighter light from the star. A useful analogy: imagine yourself as a centerfielder trying to catch a deep flyball. As the baseball goes up, you will likely need to put a hand over the sun to see the baseball. Similarly, we use coronagraphic systems to block out stars and see the planets orbiting them.
Metasruface Optics
Metasurface optics are optics comprised of millions of small structures called nano-posts. By properly choosing materials, the geometric properties of the posts, and the density of posts in a given region, metasurfaces can be designed to perform arbitrarily complex optical functions.
I am currently working on a device for correcting polarization dependent aberrations in large observatories. Different polarization states of light will experience slightly different delays when they reflect off the coated mirrors of large observatories. These delays threaten to degrade the performance of our coronagraphic instruments, allowing starlight to leak through and drown out any planets we could otherwise detect. By rotating a set of oval-shaped nano-posts, the device can realign the incoming polarization states.
