Wyant College of Optical Sciences Welcomes Four New Faculty

Aug. 24, 2023
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The Wyant College of Optical Sciences is pleased to welcome three new faculty hires for Fall 2023, and one new faculty hire for Spring 2024. Wyant College of Optical Sciences Dean and Professor Thomas L. Koch welcomed the new faculty saying, “We are thrilled to have Dr. ElKabbash, Dr. Seyler, Dr. Soh and Dr. Sinha joining us at Wyant College of Optical Sciences. These extraordinary individuals will bring exciting new dimensions to our research program and curriculum, providing new opportunities and insights to both our students and external stakeholders.”

Learn more about the college’s new faculty and their incoming labs by reading more about them below.

Mohamed ElKabbash, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences

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Mohamed ElKabbash will begin his role as an Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences in Fall 2023. Prof. ElKabbash's office is located in Meinel 527, or he can be reached via email at melkabbash@optics.arizona.edu. Prof. ElKabbash joins the Wyant College of Optical Sciences after his time as a postdoctoral scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He obtained his PhD in physics from Case Western Reserve University in 2017. Prof. ElKabbash also holds a master's degree in public law and political economy from Alexandria University. Today, his specialization is in nanophotonics, where he addresses outstanding challenges in classical and quantum technologies. His lab will focus on the co-integration of photonics and electronics in CMOS foundries, Metasurfaces and Metamaterials, cooperative spontaneous emission effects, and table-top tests of fundamental physics. His research interests also extend to clean energy applications and biophotonics. Highly motivated students specializing in optics and physics are encouraged to apply to his group. Contact Prof. ElKabbash for more information.

Kyle Seyler, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences

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Kyle Seyler begins as an Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences Fall 2023. Prof. Seyler is currently on campus and can be found in Meinel 610 or you can email him at klseyler@optics.arizona.edu. Before joining the Wyant College of Optical Sciences Prof. Seyler was a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology. He obtained his PhD in physics from the University of Washington in 2018 and specializes in optical spectroscopy of quantum materials. Prof. Seyler is currently seeking enthusiastic students to start up his growing lab. The lab works to harness tailored laser light and nanoscale device fabrication to control novel electric, magnetic and optical phenomena in quantum materials. Interested students are encouraged to contact him for more information about his lab. Learn more or look for updates on his website.

Daniel Soh, Associate Professor of Optical Sciences

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Daniel Soh begins as an Associate Professor of Optical Sciences Fall 2023. You can expect to start seeing him on campus after September 5th. You can contact him now by emailing danielsoh@optics.arizona.edu. Prof. Soh obtained two PhD degrees, the first in high power fiber lasers from the Optoelectronics Research Centre at the University of Southampton, UK, and the second in quantum dynamic systems from the Applied Physics Department at Stanford University. With a rich background in both industry and national laboratories, Daniel brings a breadth of knowledge and expertise. His prior experience includes serving as an R&D manager in a Silicon Valley startup and large corporations, including a fourteen-year tenure as a member of technical staff at Sandia National Laboratories, California. His areas of interest and specialization include quantum sensing and quantum networks, specifically those based on dynamic open quantum systems. He has thirteen granted US patents.

Kanu Sinha, Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences

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Kanu Sinha begins as an Assistant Professor of Optical Sciences Spring 2023. Prof. Sinha may be contacted in the meantime at kanu@arizona.edu. She will be leading the Quantum Optics and Open Quantum Systems (QOOQS) theory group at the Wyant College of Optical Sciences and invites interested students to contact her for more information. Prof. Sinha obtained her PhD in physics from the University of Maryland and is currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Electrical, Computer and Energy Engineering at Arizona State University. Her research group studies theoretical quantum optics with a focus on quantum fluctuation phenomena, collective atom-photon interactions and non-Markovian open quantum systems. As a theory group that works closely with experiments, Prof. Sinha and her team aim to develop novel applications of quantum optics in quantum information processing, quantum sensing and metrology, and photonic devices.

Please offer each of our new faculty warm welcomes.

Upcoming Colloquium

Profs. ElKabbash, Seyler, and Soh will present in this semester’s upcoming OSC Colloquium Series. If you’d like to learn more about their expertise, we encourage you to attend.

Prof. Kyle Seyler, “Light-Driven Correlated Magnets”
Sept. 7, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Prof. Mohamed ElKabbash, “From Silicon to Space-Time: Bridging Nanophotonics, CMOS Electronics and Quantum Gravity”
Sept. 14, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Prof. Daniel Soh, “Squeezed Light Quantum Optical Imaging / Photon-Number Resolving Single Microwave Photon Detectors”
Sept. 21, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Find more details and updates on the colloquium.