Metasurfaces
We develop metasurfaces as a general platform for controlling light and electromagnetic waves—spanning imaging, sensing, optical neural networks, nonlinear optics, and radio-frequency systems.
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RESEARCH / FOUR TERRITORIES
We teach light
new behaviors.
Our work moves from two-dimensional nanostructures to complete optical systems—connecting wavefront control, photonic circuits, atomic physics, and the optical strategies of living systems.
Integrated photonics
We create architectures for routing, modulating, converting, and radiating light—from resonant phase modulators and nonlinear waveguides to leaky-wave metasurfaces that bridge guided modes with complex free-space fields.
Quantum & atomic systems
We use metasurfaces to create large, programmable landscapes of light for neutral atoms—enabling scalable quantum computing, precision clocks, and fundamental experiments in cold-atom and many-body physics.
Bio-inspired photonics
We study how living systems sense, color, and regulate heat, then extend biological design principles into engineered and self-assembled photonic materials—from radiative cooling and infrared biology to DNA-guided structural color.
Images: Nanfang Yu Lab / Columbia UniversityLATEST / QUANTUM META-OPTICS
A flat optic for atoms at scale.
Holographic metasurfaces can generate dense optical tweezer arrays with exceptional uniformity. The platform has trapped individual strontium atoms and produced a 360,000-trap array—an optical architecture built for the scale demanded by neutral-atom technologies.
>1000single atoms demonstrated
360koptical traps generated
1.5 μmminimum trap spacing
HIGHLIGHTED / ECCV 2026
Depth, prompted by light.
A birefringent metalens physically encodes scene depth as polarization-dependent shifts in the optical image, enriching a single monocular measurement with depth cues. A pretrained depth foundation model then decodes this optically embedded information into accurate metric depth.
Monocularpassive single-shot depth
3.2 cmmean error in real scenes
4× lowerdepth error vs. prior DfD
Images: Nanfang Yu Lab / Columbia University
Cover art: Adam Overvig · Micrographs: Nanfang Yu Lab / Columbia UniversityHIGHLIGHTED / INTEGRATED PHOTONICS
Complete control, on chip.
Leaky-wave metasurfaces transform guided light on a photonic chip into free-space fields whose amplitude, phase, and polarization can be controlled independently across the wavefront. Complementary adiabatic microring modulators bring compact, low-power phase control to visible photonics—pointing toward integrated systems that generate, route, and shape light within a common architecture.
On-chipguided-to-free-space interface
4 DoFamplitude, phase & polarization
<1 mWπ phase modulation
HIGHLIGHTED / BIO-INSPIRED PHOTONICS
Nature engineers light and heat.
From Saharan silver ants to living butterfly wings, biological structures control light across the solar and thermal spectra. Triangular ant hairs reject sunlight while enhancing mid-infrared emission to the cold sky. Butterfly wing nanostructures selectively cool living veins and scent organs, while sensors trigger thermoregulatory behavior—revealing design principles for passive cooling and adaptive photonics.
5–10 °Ccooling from silver hairs
Solar → IRreflection + thermal emission
~40 °Cwing response threshold
Silver ant: Norman Nan Shi and Nanfang Yu · Butterflies: Nanfang Yu and Cheng-Chia Tsai