Abdoulaye Ndao
University of California San Diego
Singularities in Non-Hermitian Systems at the Subwavelength Scale and Applications
Photonic devices that exhibit both sensitivity and robustness have long been sought, yet these characteristics are thought to be mutually exclusive; through sensitivity, a sensor responds to external stimuli, whereas robustness embodies the inherent ability of a device to withstand weathering by these same stimuli. This challenge stems from the inherent contradiction between robustness and sensitivity in wave dynamics, which require the coexistence of noise-immune sensitive states and modulation-sensitive transitions between these states. Here, we report and experimentally demonstrate a subwavelength phase singularity in a chiral medium that is resilient to fabrication imperfections and disorder while remaining highly responsive to external stimuli.
About Abdoulaye Ndao
Professor Abdoulaye Ndao is an Assistant Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. Before Joining UC San Diego, Abdoulaye Ndao was assistant professor at Boston University from 2020 to 2023. He was previously a postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego and UC Berkeley. He received his Master and Ph.D. degrees in physics from the University of Franche Comte (France).
Dr. Ndao is a recipient of many prestigious awards, including the 2024 Sloan Fellowship in Physics, 2024 Hellman Fellowship, 2024 iCANX Young Scientist Award, 2024 IAAM Scientist Medal Lecture, 2024 Jacobs School of Engineering Early Career Faculty Development Award, 2023 Beckman Young Investigator Award, Arnold & Mabel Beckman Foundation, 2023 Boston University ECE, Outstanding Teaching Award, 2023 Scialog: Advancing Bioimaging Award, 2022 Sculpted Light in the Brain Innovation Grant, 2022 Scialog: Advancing Bioimaging Award, 2022 Boston University ECE Outstanding Faculty Committee Service Award, 2021 Reidy Family Career Development Professorship. “the very best young faculty”, 2021 Rising Star of Light by Nature’s Light Science and Applications journal, 2020 Top 50 Chemistry and Materials Sciences Articles, 2018 Best oral presentation, 6th Annual UC San Diego Postdoctoral Research Symposium, 2018 Gordon Research Travel, 2017 Physics World Top Ten Breakthrough of 2017 : first topological laser, 2017 Triton Innovation Challenge grand prize winner for Lidar applications, 2017 Prize winner of Institute for the Global Entrepreneur at UC San Diego, 2014 Ph.D. candidate, obtained with awards: Jury’s congratulations, 2011 – 2014 Ministry Research Fellowship to name a few. His research interests span wide-ranging topics in photonics, material sciences, and physics.
