{"620065":{"#nid":"620065","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Two ECE Graduates Win Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Awards","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERazi Dehghannasiri and Sean Rodrigues, two recent graduates of the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), have been chosen for Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Awards.\u0026nbsp;They will be honored for their achievements at Tech\u0026rsquo;s Sigma Xi Awards Banquet on April 15.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ERazi Dehghannasiri\u0026rsquo;s\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;thesis is entitled \u0026quot;Hypersonic phononic crystal structures for integrated nano-electromechanical\/optomechanical devices.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;Integrated phononic devices fabricated on silicon chips are of great interest for diverse scientific and industrial applications.\u0026nbsp;Dehghannasiri\u0026rsquo;sdissertation presents the study of such integrated phononic devices in new CMOS-compatible platforms in the form of phononic crystal (PnC) structures (i.e., periodic structures supporting phononic bandgaps). These phononic structures have a higher efficiency and lower phononic\/photonic losses.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn particular, this dissertation presents the experimental study of the developed hypersonic pillar-based PnC platform with wideband surface phononic bandgaps on AlN-on-Si substrates for wireless communications. In addition, this dissertation includes the study of membrane PnC structures in silicon nitride for efficient stimulated Brillouin scattering in structures compatible with integrated optics platforms for on-chip RF-photonics. Advised by ECE Joseph M. Pettit Professor Ali Adibi,\u0026nbsp;Dehghannasirigraduated last spring and is now a silicon photonics integration engineer with Intel Corporation in Albuquerque, New Mexico.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003ESean Rodrigues\u0026rsquo;\u003C\/strong\u003E\u0026nbsp;thesis is entitled \u0026quot;Instigating chiral-selective nonlinear optical phenomena in metamaterials.\u0026rdquo;\u0026nbsp;Photonic metamaterials, engineered materials composed of building blocks smaller than the wavelength of light, provide a unique approach to create optical elements that are only 10\u0026rsquo;s of nanometers thick.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIn Rodrigues\u0026rsquo; thesis, the Cai Lab introduces handed asymmetry into these nanostructures, in order to achieve strong polarization and nonlinear optical effects. The resulting research has impacts within the nanophotonics community that may result in photonic equipment for polarization and light management systems in augmented reality, LiDAR technologies, tamper proofing, and chiral sensing. Advised by ECE Associate Professor Wenshan Cai, Rodrigues graduated last summer and is now a senior scientist with Toyota Research Institute in Ann Arbor, Michigan.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ERecent ECE Ph.D. graduates\u0026nbsp;Razi Dehghannasiri and Sean Rodrigues have been chosen for Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Awards.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Recent ECE Ph.D. graduates\u00a0Razi Dehghannasiri and Sean Rodrigues have been chosen for Georgia Tech Sigma Xi Best Ph.D. Thesis Awards.\u00a0"}],"uid":"27241","created_gmt":"2019-04-04 13:45:13","changed_gmt":"2019-04-04 13:56:42","author":"Jackie Nemeth","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2019-04-04T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2019-04-04T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"620066":{"id":"620066","type":"image","title":"Razi Dehghannasiri ","body":null,"created":"1554386023","gmt_created":"2019-04-04 13:53:43","changed":"1554386023","gmt_changed":"2019-04-04 13:53:43","alt":"photograph of Razi Dehghannasiri\u00a0","file":{"fid":"236079","name":"Razi.JPG","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Razi.JPG","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Razi.JPG","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1055819,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Razi.JPG?itok=wVeDaOO3"}},"620067":{"id":"620067","type":"image","title":"Sean Rodrigues","body":null,"created":"1554386106","gmt_created":"2019-04-04 13:55:06","changed":"1554386106","gmt_changed":"2019-04-04 13:55:06","alt":"photograph of Sean Rodrigues","file":{"fid":"236080","name":"Sean Rodrigues.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sean%20Rodrigues.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/Sean%20Rodrigues.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":410331,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/Sean%20Rodrigues.jpg?itok=YSdUdw4T"}}},"media_ids":["620066","620067"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.ece.gatech.edu","title":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"url":"http:\/\/pwp.gatech.edu\/ece-prg\/","title":"Photonics Research Group"},{"url":"http:\/\/cailab.gatech.edu","title":"Cai Lab"},{"url":"https:\/\/sigmaxi.gatech.edu","title":"Georgia Tech Sigma Xi"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.gatech.edu","title":"Georgia Tech"}],"groups":[{"id":"1255","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"129","name":"Institute and Campus"},{"id":"130","name":"Alumni"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"8862","name":"Student Research"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"147","name":"Military Technology"},{"id":"149","name":"Nanotechnology and Nanoscience"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"171904","name":"Sean Rodrigues"},{"id":"180961","name":"Razi Dehghannasiri"},{"id":"91661","name":"Wenshan Cai"},{"id":"2769","name":"Ali Adibi"},{"id":"171543","name":"Cai Lab"},{"id":"83301","name":"Photonics Research Group"},{"id":"167556","name":"Sigma Xi"},{"id":"109","name":"Georgia Tech"},{"id":"166855","name":"School of Electrical and Computer Engineering"},{"id":"2768","name":"optics"},{"id":"2290","name":"photonics"},{"id":"180962","name":"phononic devices"},{"id":"180963","name":"phononic crystal (PnC) structures"},{"id":"180964","name":"photonic metamaterials"},{"id":"1786","name":"nanostructures"},{"id":"168404","name":"nanophotonics"},{"id":"1597","name":"Augmented Reality"},{"id":"180965","name":"LiDAR technologies"},{"id":"180966","name":"chiral sensing"},{"id":"180967","name":"tamper proofing"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39451","name":"Electronics and Nanotechnology"},{"id":"39471","name":"Materials"},{"id":"39481","name":"National Security"}],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EJackie Nemeth\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ESchool of Electrical and Computer Engineering\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E404-894-2906\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jackie.nemeth@ece.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}