About Us

    Welcome to the Song Group website (currently under construction). We are interested in nanophotonics, thermal photonics, topological materials, non-Hermitian physics, and quantum photonics. We engage in both theoretical and experimental studies. Our research finds applications in sustainable energy, information processing, directed energy, and integrated devices.

    Dr. Song joined the University of Sydney in 2021 as a senior lecturer. Before, he was a postdoctoral fellow working with Prof. Shanhui Fan at Stanford University, where he focused on nanophotonics, topological materials, thermal photonics, and renewable energy. He developed the passive cooling textiles together with his collaborators. He also discovered several new effects in fundamental photonics such as the topological edge-gain effect and $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric optical non-reciprocity. His thesis work was carried out in Prof. Claire Gmachl's group at Princeton University. There, he theoretically studied semiconductor quantum structures using techniques such as the non-equilibrium Green's functions. Experimentally, he developed several novel quantum-cascade light sources and detectors.

    Openings:
    We have one open Ph.D. position. If you are interested, please feel free to contact us at alex.song (at) sydney.edu.au.

Journal Publications

  1. Haiwen Wang, Cheng Guo, Weiliang Jin, Alex Y. Song, and Shanhui Fan, "Engineering arbitrarily oriented spatiotemporal optical vortices using transmission nodal lines", Optica 8, 966 (2021)
  2. Alex Y. Song, Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala, Ricky Gibson, Kevin JamesReilly, Thomas Rotter, Sadhvikas Addamane, Haiwen Wang, Cheng Guo,Ganesh Balakrishnan, Robert Bedford, Weidong Zhou, and Shanhui Fan, "Controllable finite ultra-narrow quality-factor peak in a perturbed Dirac-cone bandstructure of a photonic crystal slab", Appl. Phys. Lett. 119, 031105 (2021) (Editor's Pick)
  3. Alex Y. Song, Xiao-Qi Sun, Avik Dutt, Momchil Minkov, Casey Wojcik, Haiwen Wang, Ian Williamson, Meir Orenstein, and Shanhui Fan, "\(\mathcal{PT}\)-symmetric topological edge-gain effect", Phys. Rev. Lett. 125, 033603 (2020)
  4. Ian AD Williamson, Momchil Minkov, Avik Dutt, Jiahui Wang, Alex Y. Song, Shanhui Fan, "Integrated Nonreciprocal Photonic Devices With Dynamic Modulation", Proceedings of the IEEE 108, 1759 (2020)
  5. Momchil Minkov, Ian AD Williamson, Lucio C Andreani, Dario Gerace, Beicheng Lou, Alex Y. Song, Tyler W Hughes, Shanhui Fan, "Inverse design of photonic crystals through automatic differentiation", ACS Photonics 7, 1729 (2020)
  6. Siddharth Buddhiraju, Alex Song, Georgia T Papadakis, Shanhui Fan, "Nonreciprocal metamaterial obeying time-reversal symmetry", Phys. Rev. Lett. 124, 257403 (2020)
  7. Siddharth Buddhiraju, Yu Shi, Alex Song, Casey Wojcik, Momchil Minkov, Ian AD Williamson, Avik Dutt, Shanhui Fan, "Absence of unidirectionally propagating surface plasmon-polaritons in nonreciprocal plasmonics", Nature Communications 11, 674 (2020)
  8. Alex Y. Song, Yu Shi, Qian Lin, and Shanhui Fan, "Direction-Dependent Parity-Time Phase Transition and Non-Reciprocal Directional Amplification with Dynamic Gain-Loss Modulation", Phys. Rev. A 99, 013824 (2019)
  9. Alex Y. Song, Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala, Weidong Zhou, and Shanhui Fan, "First-principles simulation of photonic crystal surface-emitting lasers using rigorous coupled wave analysis", Appl. Phys. Lett. 113, 041106 (2018)
  10. Lili Cai†, Alex Y. Song†, Wei Li, Po-Chun Hsu, Dingchang Lin, Peter B. Catrysse, Yayuan Liu, Yucan Peng, Jun Chen, Hongxia Wang, Jinwei Xu, Ankun Yang, Shanhui Fan, and Yi Cui "Spectrally Selective Nanocomposite Textile for Outdoor Personal Cooling", Adv. Mater. 30, 1802152 (2018)
  11. Alex Y. Song, Peter B. Catrysse, and Shanhui Fan, "Broadband Control of Topological Nodes in Electromagnetic Fields", Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 193903 (2018)
  12. Yucan Peng†, Jun Chen†, Alex Y. Song†, Peter B. Catrysse†, Po-Chun Hsu, Lili Cai, Bofei Liu, Yangying Zhu, Guangmin Zhou, David S. Wu, Hye Ryoung Lee, Shanhui Fan & Yi Cui, "Nanoporous polyethylene microfibres for large-scale radiative cooling fabric", Nature Sustainability 1, 105-112 (2018)
  13. Po-Chun Hsu, Chong Liu, Alex Y. Song, Ze Zhang, Yucan Peng, Jin Xie, Kai Liu, Chun-Lan Wu, Peter B. Catrysse, Lili Cai, Shang Zhai, Arun Majumdar, Shanhui Fan, Yi Cui, "Dual-mode textile for human body radiative heating and cooling", Science Advances 3, 11 (2017)
  14. Lili Cai, Alex Y. Song, Peilin Wu, Po-Chun Hsu, Yucan Peng, Jun Chen, Chong Liu, Peter Catrysse, Yayuan Liu, Ankun Yang, Chenxing Zhou, Chenyu Zhou, Shanhui Fan, and Yi Cui, "Warming up Human Body by Nanoporous Metallized Polyethylene Textile", Nature Communications 8, 496 (2017)
  15. Alex Y. Song, Rajaram Bhat, Pierre Bouzi, Chung-En Zah and Claire Gmachl, "Three Dimensional Interface Roughness in Thin Layered Semiconductor Structures and Its Effects on Intersubband Transitions", Phys. Rev. B 94, 165307 (2016)
  16. Po-Chun Hsu, Alex Y. Song, Peter B. Catrysse, Chong Liu, Yucan Peng, Jin Xie, Shanhui Fan, and Yi Cui, "Radiative Human Body Cooling by Nanoporous Polyethylene Textile", Science 353, 1019 (2016)
  17. Peter B. Catrysse, Alex Y. Song, and Shanhui Fan, "Photonic Structure Textile Design for Localized Thermal Cooling Based on a Fiber Replacement/Blending Scheme", ACS Photonics 3, 2420-2426 (2016)
  18. Alex Y. Song, Rajaram Bhat, Andrew Allerman, Jie Wang, Tzu-Yung Huang, Chung-En Zah, and Claire Gmachl, "Quantum Cascade Emission in III-Nitride Materials Designed with Effective Interface Grading", Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 132104 (2015)
  19. Omri Wolf, Andrew A. Allerman, Xuedan Ma, Joel Wendt, Alex Y. Song, Eric A. Shaner and Igal Brener, "Enhanced Intersubband second harmonic generation from III-Nitride Heterostructures Coupled to Metamaterials", Appl. Phys. Lett. 107, 151108 (2015)
  20. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Tzu-Yung Huang, Pranav Badami, Chung-En Zah and Claire Gmachl, "III-Nitride Quantum Cascade Detector Grown by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition", Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 182104 (2014)
  21. Yu Song, Jens Sonntag, Sergey B. Mirov, Claire Gmachl and Jacob Khurgin, "Mid-infrared light emission from a Fe\(^{2+}\):ZnSe polycrystal using quantum cascade laser pumping", Appl. Phys. Lett. 105, 141108 (2014)
  22. Pierre M. Bouzi, YenTing Chiu, Christoph Deutsch, Yamac Dikmelik, Yu Song, Vadim Tokranov, Serge Oktyabrsky, and Claire F. Gmachl, "Importance of Growth Direction in Mid-Infrared Quantum Cascade Lasers", J. Appl. Phys. 116, 034504 (2014)
  23. Chao Wang, Qi Zhang, Yu Song and Stephen Y. Chou, "Plasmonic Bar-Coupled Dots-on-Pillar Cavity Antenna with Dual Resonances for Infrared Absorption and Sensing: Performance and Nanoimprint Fabrication", ACS Nano 8 (3), 2618-2624 (2014)
  24. Yu Song, Dong Chen, Lai Wang, Hongtao Li, Guangyi Xi, and Yang Jiang, "Splitting of Valance Subbands in Wurtzite c-Plane InGaN/GaN Quantum Well Structure", Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 161910 (2008)
  25. Jin Huang, Changzheng Sun, Yu Song, Bing Xiong, Yi Luo, "Phase Noise of Optically Generated Microwave using Sideband Injection Locking", Chinese Phys. Lett. 25, 3980 (2008)
† These authors contributed equally.

Conference Presentations

  1. Alex Y. Song, Xiao-Qi Sun, Avik Dutt, Momchil Minkov, Casey Wojcik, Haiwen Wang, Ian Williamson, Meir Orenstein, and Shanhui Fan, "\(\mathcal{PT}\)-symmetric topological edge-gain effect", CLEO: Science and Innovations, FM2A.2, 2020
  2. Alex Y. Song, Akhil Raj Kumar Kalapala, Weidong Zhou, and Shanhui Fan, "First-principles simulation of photonic-crystal surface-emitting lasers using rigorous coupled wave analysis", SPIE Photonics West, Proc. SPIE 10939, Novel In-Plane Semiconductor Lasers XVIII, 1093908 (13 March 2019)
  3. Alex Y. Song, Peter B. Catrysse, and Shanhui Fan, "Broadband Control of Topological Nodes in Electromagnetic Fields", CLEO: Science and Innovations, FTu3E.7, 2018
  4. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Andrew Allerman, Tzu-Yung Huang, Chung-En Zah, and Claire Gmachl, "Light Emission from III-Nitride Quantum Cascade Structures Designed with Effective Interface Grading", SPIE Photonics West, 2015
  5. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Andrew Allerman, Tzu-Yung Huang, Chung-En Zah, and Claire Gmachl, "Intersubband Electroluminescence in GaN/Al\(_x\)Ga\(_{1-x}\)N Quantum Cascade Emitter Structure", International Quantum Cascade Lasers School & Workshop, 2014
  6. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Andrew Allerman, Tzu-Yung Huang, Pranav Badami, Chung-En Zah, and Claire Gmachl, "Mid-Infrared GaN/Al\(_x\)Ga\(_{1-x}\)N Quantum Cascade Detectors Grown by MOCVD", CLEO: Science and Innovations, STh4I.2, 2014
  7. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Pierre Bouzi, Chung-En Zah and Claire Gmachl, "Effect of Quasi Two Dimensional Interface Roughness in Ultra-Thin Semiconductor Quantum Wells", APS March Meeting, 2014
  8. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Chung-En Zah, Pranav Badami, Tzu-Yung Huang, and Claire Gmachl, "Mid-Infrared GaN/Al\(_x\)Ga\(_{1-x}\)N Quantum Cascade Structures Grown by MOCVD", The 12th International Conference on Intersubband Transitions in Quantum Wells, 2013
  9. Yu Song, Sergey B. Mirov, Claire F. Gmachl, and Jacob B. Khurgin, "Photoluminescence Characteristics of Fe\(^{2+}\):ZnSe Crystals with Quantum Cascade Laser Pumping", CLEO: Science and Innovations, CF1I.1, 2013
  10. Yu Song, Rajaram Bhat, Chung-En Zah, and Claire Gmachl, "Intersubband Absorption and Electron Transport Study in MOCVD Grown GaN / AlN and GaN / Al\(_{0.6}\)Ga\(_{0.4}\)N Superlattices", International Quantum Cascade Lasers School & Workshop, 2012
  11. Yu Song, Sergey B. Mirov, Claire F. Gmachl, and Jacob B. Khurgin, "Photoluminescence in a Fe\(^{2+}\):ZnSe Crystal Using Near Absorption Edge Quantum Cascade Laser Pumping", CLEO: Science and Innovations, CTu2D.3, 2012
  12. Yu Song, Yamac Dikmelik, Claire F Gmachl, and Jacob B Khurgin, "Modeling the Transport and Lasing Characteristics of Quantum Cascade Lasers", Quantum Electronics and Laser Science Conference (QELS), JW2A.93, 2012
  13. Yu Song, Yamac Dikmelik, Jacob Khurgin, "Practical Model for the Transport and Lasing Characteristics of Quantum Cascade Lasers", The 11th International Conference on Intersubband Transitions in Quantum Wells, 2011
  14. Yu Song, Jacob B Khurgin, Yamac Dikmelik, "A Practical Transport and Lasing Model for Quantum Cascade Lasers", SPIE Photonics West, 2011
  15. (Selected from MIRTHE Summer Workshops) Yu Song, Matthew Escarra, Colin Montemarano, William Charles, Claire Gmachl, "Active Metamaterials with Current Injection to Compensate Losses", MIRTHE Summer Workshop, 2010
  16. Yu Song, Bing Xiong, Changzhen Sun, Yi Luo, "Low residual stress and high repeatability of SiNx thin films for InP-based optoelectronic device fabrication by dual radio frequency plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition", IEEE 19th International Conference on Indium Phosphide and Related Materials, pp. 233, 2007
  17. Jin Huang, Changzheng Sun, Bing Xiong, Yu Song, Yi Luo, "Phase Noise Characteristics of Optically Generated Microwave by Sideband Injection Locking", International Nano-Optoelectronic Workshop, pp. 301, 2008
† These authors contributed equally.

Software

  • Inkstone
    Efficient solver based on rigorous coupled-wave analysis to simulate electromagnetic responses of 3D and 2D multi-layered structures with in-plane periodicity, such as gratings, photonic-crystal slabs, metasurfaces, surface-emitting lasers, nano-antennas, and more.
  • T-Dyno
    A finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) package equipped with dynamic modulations in the refractive index and gain/loss.

Professional Preparation

Postdoc

Electrical Engineering, Stanford University

2015 ~ now

Postdoc

Electrical Engineering, Princeton University

2014 ~ 2015

Ph.D.

Electrical Engineering, Princeton University

2014

 

Minor 1: Applied Mathematics, Minor 2: Physics

 

M.S.

Electronic Engineering, Tsinghua University

2009

B.S. (with Honor)

Mathematics and Physics, Tsinghua University

2006

Services & Other Activities

  • Teaching assistant, ELE-208, “Electronic and Photonic Devices”, 2014 spring & 2013 spring
  • Teaching assistant, IC & Optics Fabrication Course, ELE, 2013 fall
  • Mentor to more than ten undergraduate students in their summer research programs, independent works and/or junior and senior theses at Princeton University
  • I am a reviewer for American Physical Society (APS), American Institute of Physics (AIP), Optical Society of America (OSA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
  • I've volunteered in various programs for introducing science and engineering to pre-college students and the general public (YSAP, annual Science and Engineering Expo, engineering school / ELE departmental open houses, MIRTHE exhibition at various conferences and events, etc.) I enjoy teaching science to the next generation!