Alexandra Boltasseva

Alexandra Boltasseva (born January 11, 1978), is Ron And Dotty Garvin Tonjes Distinguished Professor of electrical and computer engineering at Purdue University, and editor-in-chief for The Optical Society's Optical Materials Express journal. Her research focuses on plasmonic metamaterials, manmade composites of metals that use surface plasmons to achieve optical properties not seen in nature.

Education and career Boltasseva studied her bachelor and masters in physics at the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, completing her research projects on quantum-well lasers at the Lebedev Physical Institute. She moved to the Technical University of Denmark for her PhD studies in nanophotonics and nanofabrication, where she wants to create a new device through innovative optical materials, advanced fabrication methods and more; working with Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi. Following her PhD, Boltasseva worked at two photonics start-up companies before returning to the Technical University of Denmark as a postdoc and subsequently an associate professor. as well as holding a courtesy appointment in Materials Engineering.

The ultimate goal of this work is to develop new nanophotonic platforms that operate across previously inaccessible wavelength ranges and with improved performance. By reducing optical losses and enabling tunable or reconfigurable devices that are compatible with semiconductor manufacturing, the team aims to advance technologies used in on-chip optical circuits, high-speed information processing, advanced data storage, sensing systems, medical imaging and therapy, energy conversion, and emerging quantum information technologies. Through these innovations, their research contributes to the development of next-generation photonic devices that could significantly improve the efficiency, speed, and functionality of modern optical and electronic systems.

Awards, honors, memberships A. Boltasseva's research earned her a number of awards: 2023 Fellow of the American Physical Society "for important contributions to nanophotonics, plasmonics, and metamaterials, having made a broad impact in the multidisciplinary area merging optics, material science, and nanotechnology". 2023 R.W. Wood Prize recipient 2022 Guggenheim Fellowship

Family Spouse - Vladimir Shalaev