Faculty

Biography

Joel Yang received his Master of Science (2005) and PhD (2009) degrees from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a Professor in the Engineering Product Development pillar at the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD) and holds a joint appointment as Principal Scientist I at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) of A*STAR. He is recognized for pioneering work in plasmonic color printing, achieving record-level printing resolution at 100,000 dpi and credited for the widely-used “salty-developer” to improve the resolution of electron beam lithography. His research interests include Nanoplasmonics, 2D and 3D printed nano optical design elements (NODE), and sub-10-nm resolution lithography. He serves as Associate Editor of Science Advances, Associate Editor of Optics Express, and member of the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Photonics. He is Fellow of OSA The Optical Society, NRF Investigator (class of 2020), and A*STAR Investigator (2010). His accolades include the IPS Nanotechnology Medal and Prize (Institute of Physics Singapore), MIT Technology Review TR35 award, and the Singapore Young Scientist Award.

Education Background

• PhD, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2009
• MSc, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Electrical Engineering and Computer Science 2005
• BEng, Nanyang Technological University, Electrical and Electronic Engineering 2003

Research Interests

• Nano Optics, Nanophotonics, Nanoplasmonics, Plasmonic Color Printing
• Nanofabrication at sub-10-nm dimensions, Electron-Beam Lithography
• 3D Nanoprinting, Two-Photon Polymerization Lithography (TPL)

Awards & Achievements

• 2020 IPS Nanotechnology Medal and Prize 2019 (Institute of Physics Singapore)
• 2020 SUTD Outstanding Education Award for Excellence in Research
• 2020 Elected OSA Fellow for pioneering contributions in plasmonic color printing and sub-10-nm resolution patterning for nanophotonics
• 2020 NRF Investigatorship Awardee: 3D Nanostructured Optics with Designer Elements (NODE) to Shape and Control Light
• 2019 Best Poster Award at ICMAT Symposium D: Dielectric Nanoantennas (PhD Student John Chan)
• 2018 1st Prize Singapore Springer Nature’s 3MT Three Minute Thesis (PhD student John Chan)
• 2018 ISTFA 2018 Best Student Paper by PhD student V. Ravikumar co-sup. with K.L. Pey
• 2016 Best Poster Award (PhD Student Jonathan Trisno) at 2nd Asian Materials Education Symposium @ Singapore
• 2012 Young Scientist Award from the Singapore National Academy of Science
• 2012 TR35@Singapore: MIT Technology Review’s List of Top Innovators in Asia Pacific
• 2011 EIPBN Micrograph Contest Grand Prize Award
• 2010 Nanyang Outstanding Alumnus Award
• 2010 MIT EECS Jin-AuKong Outstanding Doctoral Thesis Award
• 2010 R&D 100 Awards
• 2009 A*STAR Young Investigatorship Award
• 2009 MIT Lincoln Laboratory BestInvention Award
• 2009 Philip Yeo Prize for Outstanding Achievement in Research

Key Publications

For most updated list: Google Scholar, Researchgate 

1. John YE Chan, Qifeng Ruan, Ray JH Ng, CW Qiu, Joel KW Yang, “Rotation-Selective Moiré Magnification of Structural Color Pattern Arrays”, ACS nano 13 (12), 14138-14144 (2019)
2. Y Wu, J Xu, ET Poh, L Liang, H Liu, JKW Yang, CW Qiu, RAL Vallée, X Liu, “Upconversion superburst with sub-2 μs lifetime”, Nature Nanotechnology 14 (12), 1110-1115 (2019)
3. Yejing Liu, Hao Wang, Jinfa Ho, Ryan C Ng, Ray JH Ng, Valerian H Hall-Chen, Eleen HH Koay, Zhaogang Dong, Hailong Liu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Julia R Greer, Joel KW Yang, “Structural Color Three-Dimensional Printing By Shrinking Photonic Crystals” Nature Communications, volume 10, Article number: 4340 (2019)
4. Hailong Liu, Jiahui Xu, Hao Wang, Yejing Liu, Qifeng Ruan, Yiming Wu, Xiaogang Liu, Joel KW Yang, “Tunable Resonator‐Upconverted Emission (TRUE) Color Printing and Applications in Optical Security” Advanced Materials 31, 1807900 (2019)
5. Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei, Ray Jia Hong Ng, Zhaogang Dong, Jinfa Ho, Eleen HH Koay, Seeram Ramakrishna, Joel KW Yang, “Wide-Gamut Plasmonic Color Palettes with Constant Subwavelength Resolution”, ACS Nano DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.9b00139 (2019)
6. Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei, Jinfa Ho, Ali Naderi, Mohammad Tavakkoli Yaraki, Tao Wang, Zhaogang Dong, Seeram Ramakrishna, Joel KW Yang, “Tunable, Cost‐Effective, and Scalable Structural Colors for Sensing and Consumer Products”, Advanced Optical Materials 1900735, (2019)
7. Joel KW Yang, Martina Mrongovius, Martin C Fischer, Alexandra Boltasseva, “Design, Manufacture, and Analysis of Photonic Materials for Historical and Modern Visual Art: feature issue introduction”, Optical Materials Express Vol. 9, Issue 5, Pages 2128-2130 (2019)
8. Liyong Jiang, Tingting Yin, Alexander M Dubrovkin, Zhaogang Dong, Yuntian Chen, Weijin Chen, Joel KW Yang, Zexiang Shen, “In-plane coherent control of plasmon resonances for plasmonic switching and encoding”, Light: Science & Applications 8, 21 (2019)
9. Tao Wang, Zhaogang Dong, Eleen Huey Hong Koay, Joel KW Yang, “Surface-Enhanced Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy Using Charge Transfer Plasmons”, ACS Photonics2019651272-1278 (2019)
10. Ray Jia Hong Ng, Ravikumar Venkat Krishnan, Zhaogang Dong, Jinfa Ho, Hailong Liu, Qifeng Ruan, Kin Leong Pey, Joel KW Yang, “Micro-tags for art: covert visible and infrared images using gap plasmons in native aluminum oxide”, Optical Materials Express 9(2) 788-801 (2019)
11. KTP Lim, H Liu, Y Liu, JKW Yang, “Holographic Colour Prints: Enhanced Optical Security by Combined Phase and Amplitude Control” Nature Communications 10(1) 25 (2019)
12. Zhongwei Jin, Shengtao Mei, Shuqing Chen, Ying Li, Chen Zhang, Yanliang He, Xia Yu, Changyuan Yu, Joel K. W. Yang, Boris Luk’yanchuk, Shumin Xiao, and Cheng-Wei Qiu, “Complex Inverse Design of Meta-optics by Segmented Hierarchical Evolutionary Algorithm”, ACS Nano Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acsnano.8b08333 (2019)
13. Hao Wang, Yejing Liu, Qifeng Ruan, Hailong Liu, Ray JH Ng, You Sin Tan, Hongtao Wang, Ying Li, Cheng‐Wei Qiu, Joel KW Yang, “Off‐Axis Holography with Uniform Illumination via 3D Printed Diffractive Optical Elements”, Advanced Optical Materials, 1900068 (2019)
14. Weiling Dong, Hailong Liu, Jitendra K Behera, Li Lu, Ray JH Ng, Kandammathe Valiyaveedu Sreekanth, Xilin Zhou, Joel KW Yang, Robert E Simpson, “Wide bandgap phase change material tuned visible photonics”, Advanced Functional Materials, Volume 29, Issue 6, Pages 1806181(2019)
15. Lei Jin, Zhaogang Dong, Shengtao Mei, Ye Feng Yu, Zhun Wei, Zhenying Pan, Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei, Xiangping Li, Arseniy I Kuznetsov, Yuri S Kivshar, Joel KW Yang, Cheng-Wei Qiu, “Noninterleaved Metasurface for (26-1) Spin- and Wavelength-Encoded Holograms”, Nano Letters 18 (12), pp 8016–8024 (2018)
16. Jinfa Ho, Yuan Hsing Fu, Zhaogang Dong, Ramon Paniagua-Dominguez, Eleen H. H. Koay, Yefeng Yu, Vytautas Valuckas, Arseniy I. Kuznetsov, and Joel K.W. Yang, “Highly Directive Hybrid Metal-Dielectric Yagi-Uda Nanoantennas”, ACS Nano, Just Accepted Manuscript 12 (8), pp 8616–8624 (2018)
17. KTP Lim, H Liu, Y Liu, JKW Yang, “Holographic Colour Prints: Enhanced Optical Security by Combined Phase and Amplitude Control” arXiv preprint arXiv:1805.09457 (2018)
18. Mohamed Yousef Hassan, Yu Zhou, Chenjie Gu, Hailong Liu, Joel K.W. Yang, Diing Shenp Ang, “Plasmon-Assisted Zone-Selective Repair of Nanoscale Electrical Breakdown Paths in Metal/Oxide/Metal Structures for Near-Field Optical Sensing”, ACS Appl. Nano Mater. 1 (8), pp 4340–4350 (2018)
19. Weiling Dong, Hailong Liu, Jitendra K Behera, Li Lu, Ray JH Ng, Kandammathe Valiyaveedu Sreekanth, Xilin Zhou, Joel KW Yang, Robert E Simpson, “Wide Bandgap Phase Change Material Tuned Visible Photonics”, Advanced Functional Materials doi:10.1002/adfm.201806181 (2018)
20. Yasi Wang, Mengjie Zheng, Qifeng Ruan, Yanming Zhou, Yiqin Chen, Peng Dai, Zhengmei Yang, Zihao Lin, Yuxiang Long, Ying Li, Na Liu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Joel KW Yang, Huigao Duan , “Stepwise-Nanocavity-Assisted Transmissive Color Filter Array Microprints”, Science: Research, vol. 2018, Article ID 8109054, 10 pages, 2018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/8109054
21. S Wang, Y Yu, H Liu, KTP Lim, BM Srinivasan, YW Zhang, JKW Yang, “Sub-10-nm suspended nano-web formation by direct laser writing”, Nano Futures 2 (2), 025006 (2018)
22. Z Wang, Z Dong, H Zhu, L Jin, MH Chiu, LJ Li, QH Xu, G Eda, SA Maier, Andrew TS Wee, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Joel KW Yang, “Selectively Plasmon-Enhanced Second-Harmonic Generation from Monolayer Tungsten Diselenide on Flexible Substrates”, ACS Nano 12 (2), 1859-1867(2018)
23. Zhaogang Dong, Jinfa Ho, Ye Feng Yu, Yuan Hsing Fu, Ramón Paniagua-Dominguez, Sihao Wang, Arseniy I. Kuznetsov, and Joel K. W. Yang, “Printing Beyond sRGB Color Gamut by Mimicking Silicon Nanostructures in Free-Space”, Nano Letters Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.7b03613 (2017)
24. Soroosh Daqiqeh Rezaei, Jinfa Ho, Ray Jia Hong Ng, Seeram Ramakrishna, and Joel K. W. Yang, “On the correlation of absorption cross-section with plasmonic color generation”, Optics Express Vol. 25, Issue 22, pp. 27652-27664 (2017)
25. Anders Kristensen, Joel K. W. Yang, Sergey I. Bozhevolnyi, Stephan Link, Peter Nordlander, Naomi J. Halas, N. Asger Mortensen*, “Plasmonic Colour Generation”, Nature Reviews Materials 2, Article number: 16088 (2016)
26. Kun Huang, Zhaogang Dong, Shengtao Mei, Lei Zhang, Yanjun Liu, Hong Liu, Haibin Zhu, Jinghua Teng, Boris Luk’yanchuk, Joel K. W. Yang, Cheng‐Wei Qiu, “Silicon multi‐meta‐holograms for the broadband visible light,” Laser & Photonics Reviews Volume 10, Issue 3, pages 500–509, (2016)
27. Xiao Ming Goh, Ray Jia Hong Ng, Sihao Wang, Shawn J. Tan, and Joel K.W. Yang, “Comparative Study of Plasmonic Colors from All-Metal Structures of Posts and Pits,” ACS Photonics DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00099 (2016)
28. Zhuo Wang, Zhaogang Dong, Yinghong Gu, Yung-Huang Chang, Lei Zhang, Lain-Jong Li, Weijie Zhao, Goki Eda, Wenjing Zhang, Gustavo Grinblat, Stefan A. Maier, Joel K.W. Yang, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Andrew T.S. Wee, “Giant photoluminescence enhancement in tungsten-diselenide–gold plasmonic hybrid structures,” Nature Communications 7, Article number: 11 (2016)
29. Tingting Yin, Zhaogang Dong, Liyong Jiang, Lei Zhang, Hailong Hu, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Joel K.W. Yang, and Zexiang Shen*, “Anomalous Shift Behaviors in the Photoluminescence of Dolmen-like Plasmonic Nanostructures,” ACS Photonics DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.6b00058 (2016)
30. Wang, R.J.H. Ng, S. Safari Dinachali, M. Jalali, Y. Yu, J.K.W. Yang, “Large Area Plasmonic Color Palettes with Expanded Gamut Using Colloidal Self-Assembly,” ACS Photonics DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00725 (2016)Ray J. H. Ng, Xiao Ming Goh, and Joel K. W. Yang, “All-metal nanostructured substrates as subtractive color reflectors with near-perfect absorptance,” Optics Express 23, 32597-32605 (2015)
31. Zhou Z., Zhao Z., Yu Y., Ai B., Möhwald H., Chiechi R.C., Joel K.W. Yang, Zhang G., “From 1D to 3D: Tunable Sub-10 nm Gaps in Large Area Devices”, Advanced Materials doi: 10.1002/adma.201505929 (2016)
32. Ray J. H. Ng, Xiao Ming Goh, and Joel K. W. Yang, “All-metal nanostructured substrates as subtractive color reflectors with near-perfect absorptance,” Express 23, 32597-32605 (2015)
33. Zhaogang Dong, Mohamed Asbahi, Jian Lin, Di Zhu, Ying Min Wang, Kedar Hippalgaonkar, Hong-Son Chu, Wei Peng Goh, FuKe Wang, Zhiwei Huang, Joel K.W. Yang, “Second-Harmonic Generation from Sub-5-nm Gaps by Directed Self-Assembly of Nanoparticles onto Template-Stripped Gold Substrates”, Nano Letters Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02109 (2015)
34. Mohamed Asbahi, Shafigh Mehraeen, FuKe Wang, Nikolai Yakovlev, Karen SL Chong, Jianshu Cao, Mei Chee Tan, Joel K.W. Yang, “Large Area Directed Self-Assembly of Sub-10 nm Particles with Single Particle Positioning Resolution”, Nano Letters Article ASAP DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b02291 (2015)
35. Liyong Jiang, Ting-ting Yin, Zhaogang Dong, Hai-long Hu, Ming-yi Liao, David Allioux, Shawn J Tan, Xiao Ming Goh, Xiang-yin Li, Joel K.W. Yang, Zexiang Shen, “Probing vertical and horizontal plasmonic resonant states in the photoluminescence of gold nanodisks”, ACS Photonics DOI: 10.1021/acsphotonics.5b00308 (2015)
36. Ying Min Wang, Liangxing Lu, Bharathi Madurai Srinivasan, Mohamed Asbahi, Yong Wei Zhang, Joel K.W. Yang, “High aspect ratio 10-nm-scale nanoaperture arrays with template-guided metal dewetting”, Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 9654 (2015)
37. J Tao, Z Dong, Joel K.W. Yang, QJ Wang, “Plasmon excitation on flat graphene by s-polarized beams using four-wave mixing”, Optics Express Vol. 23, Issue 6, pp. 7809-7819 (2015)
38. Zhaogang Dong, Hong-Son Chu, Di Zhu, Wei Du, Yuriy A Akimov, Wei Peng Goh, Tao Wang, Kuan Eng Johnson Goh, Cedric Troadec, Christian A Nijhuis, Joel K.W. Yang, “Electrically-Excited Surface Plasmon Polaritons with Directionality Control”, ACS Photonics, 2 (3), pp 385–391(2015)
39. Lei Zhang, Zhaogang Dong,  Ying Min Wang,  Yan Jun Liu,  Shuang Zhang,  Joel K.W. Yang and Cheng-Wei Qiu, “Dynamically configurable hybridization of plasmon modes in nanoring dimer arrays”, Nanoscale, 2015,7, 12018-12022 (2015)
40. Yinghong Gu, Lei Zhang, Joel K.W. Yang, Swee Ping Yeo, Cheng-Wei Qiu, “Color generation via subwavelength plasmonic nanostructures”, (Invited Review) Nanoscale (2015). doi:10.1039/c5nr00578g
41. Zhu, Z. Dong, H.S. Chu, Y.A. Akimov, J.K.W. Yang, “Image Dipole Method for the Beaming of Plasmons from Point Sources”, ACS Photonics 12, 1307-1312 (2014)
42. Xiao Ming Goh, Yihan Zheng, Shawn J. Tan, Lei Zhang, Karthik Kumar, Cheng-Wei Qiu , Joel K. W. Yang, “Three-dimensional plasmonic stereoscopic prints in full colour”, Nature Communications 5, 5361 (2014)
43. YJ Chen, HZ Yang, SH Leong, BL Wu, M Asbahi, Hnin Yu Yu Ko, Joel K. W. Yang, V Ng, “A study on dynamic heat assisted magnetization reversal mechanisms under insufficient reversal field conditions”, Applied Physics Letters 105, 16, 162402 (2014)
44. Michel Bosman, Lei Zhang, Huigao Duan, Shu Fen Tan, Christian A. Nijhuis, Cheng–Wei Qiu,  Joel K. W. Yang, “Encapsulated Annealing: Enhancing the Plasmon Quality Factor in Lithographically–Defined Nanostructures”, Nature: Scientific Reports 4, 5537 doi:10.1038/srep05537 (2014)
45. Shawn J Tan, Lei Zhang, Di Zhu, Xiao Ming Goh, Ying Min Wang, Karthik Kumar, Cheng-Wei Qiu, Joel K.W. Yang, “Plasmonic Color Palettes for Photorealistic Printing with Aluminum Nanostructures”, Nano Letters (2014)
46. Naganivetha Thiyagarajah, Mohamed Asbahi, Rick T.J. Wong, Kendrick W.M. Low, Nikolai L. Yakovlev, Joel K.W. Yang and Vivian Ng, “A facile approach for screening isolated nanomagnetic behavior for bit-patterned media”, IOP Nanotechnology 25 225203 (2014)
47. Shawn J. Tan, Xian Ming Goh, Ying Min Wang, Joel K.W. Yang, and Jinghua Teng, “Engineering Plasmonic Colors In Metal Nanostructures”, Journal of Molecular and Engineering Materials (2014) DOI: 10.1142/S2251237314400115.
48. Di Zhu, Michel Bosman, Joel K.W. Yang, “A circuit model for plasmonic resonators”, Optics Express Vol. 22, Issue 8, pp. 9809-9819 (2014)
49. Mohamed Asbahi, Shafigh Mehraeen, Kevin T. P. Lim, Fuke Wang, Jianshu Cao, Mei Chee Tan, and Joel K. W. Yang, “Template-Induced Structure Transition In Sub-10-nm Self-Assembling Nanoparticles”, Nano Lett DOI: 10.1021/nl5004976 (2014)
50. Shu Fen Tan, Lin Wu, Joel K.W. Yang, Ping Bai, Michel Bosman, and Christian A. Nijhuis, “Quantum Plasmon Resonances Controlled by Molecular Tunnel Junctions”, Science 343, 1496 (2014)
51. Zhaogang Dong, Michel Bosman, Di Zhu, Xiao Ming Goh, and Joel K.W. Yang, “Fabrication of Suspended Metal-Dielectric-Metal Plasmonic Nanostructures”, IOP Nanotechnology 25 135303 (2014)
52. Huigao Duan, Hailong Hu, Hui Kim Hui, Zexiang Shen, Joel K W Yang, “Free-standing sub-10 nm nanostencils for the definition of gaps in plasmonic antennas”, Nanotechnology 24, 185301 (2013). Editor’s pick of the month
53. Michel Bosman, Enyi Ye, Shu Fen Tan, Christian A. Nijhuis, Joel K. W. Yang, Renaud Marty, Adnen Mlayah, Arnaud Arbouet, Christian Girard, Ming-Yong Han,” Surface Plasmon Damping Quantified with an Electron Nanoprobe”, Nature: Scientific Reports 3, doi:10.1038/srep01312
54. Lin Wu, Huigao Duan,Ping Bai, Michel Bosman, Joel K. W. Yang, and Erping Li, “Fowler–NordheimTunneling Induced Charge Transfer Plasmons between Nearly TouchingNanoparticles”, ACS Nano, 2013, 7 (1), pp 707–716
55. Hailong Hu, Huigao Duan, Joel K. W. Yang, and Ze Xiang Shen, “Plasmon Modulated Photoluminescence of individual Gold Nanostructures”, ACS Nano (2012)doi: 10.1021/nn3039066
56. Mohamed Asbahi, KevinT. P. Lim, Fuke Wang, Huigao Duan, Naganivetha Thiyagarajah, Vivian Ng, and JoelK. W. Yang , “Directed Self-Assembly of Densely Packed Gold Nanoparticles”, Langmuir, Vol 28, Issue 49, pg 16725-17216 (2012) (Featured on Cover)
57. Karthik Kumar, Huigao Duan, Ravi Hegde, Samuel Koh, Jennifer Wei, Joel K.W. Yang, “Printing Color at the Optical Diffraction Limit”, Nature Nanotechnology (2012) doi:10.1038/nnano.2012.128 (Featured on Cover)
58. Huigao Duan, AntonioI. Fernandez-Dominguez, Michel Bosman, Stefan A. Maier, Joel K.W. Yang,“Nanoplasmonics: Classical Down To The Nanometer Scale”, Nano Letters Article 12 (3), 1683-1689 (2012)
59. Huigao Duan, HailongHu, Karthik Kumar, Zexiang Shen, Joel K.W. Yang, “Direct and Reliable Patterning of Plasmonic Nanostructures with Sub-10-nm Gaps”, ACS Nano 2011, 5 (9), pp 7593–7600
60. Ai Leen Koh, Antonio I. Fernandez-Dominguez, David W. McComb, Stefan A. Maier, Joel K. W. Yang,“High-Resolution Mapping of Electron-Beam-Excited Plasmon Modes in Lithographically Defined Gold Nanostructures,” Nano Letters Article 11 (3), pp 1323–1330(2011)
61. Joel K. W. Yang, Yeon Sik Jung, Jae-Byum Chang, R. A. Mickiewicz, A. Alexander-Katz, C. A. Ross & Karl K. Berggren, “Complex self-assembled patterns using sparse commensurate templates with locally varying motifs” Nature Nanotechnology 5, 256 – 260 (2010)
62. I. Bita, J. K. W. Yang, Y. S. Jung,C. A. Ross, E. L. Thomas, and K. K. Berggren, “Graphoepitaxy of self-assembled block copolymers on two-dimensional periodic patterned templates,” Science, vol. 321, pp. 939-943, 2008