Vladimir Aksyuk (Fed)

Vladimir Aksyuk is a Project Leader in the Photonics and Optomechanics Group with a broad range of research interests from physics and engineering of multimodal nanofabricated systems to fundamental information-theoretic limits of physical measurements to fundamentals and applications of machine learning and understanding of efficient compositional online learning.

After receiving a B.S. in Physics from Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and a Ph.D. in Physics from Rutgers University in 1999, Vladimir conducted research on micro electromechanical systems (MEMS) for basic physics and optical telecommunications applications as a member of technical staff and a technical manager at Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ prior to joining NIST in 2008.

He holds more than 50 patents and has published over 90 journal papers. He is a recipient of the Bell Labs President's Gold Award (2000), a Distinguished Alumni award for Early Career Accomplishments from Rutgers Graduate School (2008), and a Bronze Medal Award from NIST (2015). He was named among MIT Technology Review magazine's TR35 young innovators (2005), and elected Fellow of the American Physical Society (2014) for contributions to the development of integrated photonic and mechanical microsystems, for pioneering work in using such systems to enable both telecommunications and novel nanoscale, high-throughput, measurement methods, and for contributions to the understanding of the Casimir force.

Dr. Aksyuk studies nanofabricated systems achieving novel functionality by coupling optical, plasmonic, electrical, thermal and mechanical degrees of freedom at the nanoscale. Integration of photonics/plasmonics with micro and nanomechanics has enabled groundbreaking increases in bandwidth and precision of Atomic Force Microscopy and achieved record-breaking miniaturization of optomechanical transducers for MEMS motion metrology. Innovative chip-scale photonic circuit technologies have been developed for providing optical interfaces to atomic ensembles for quantum optical references and other integrated quantum systems on chip.

Selected Programs/Projects

• High bandwidth active photonic circuits operating from blue to infrared by hybrid integration of lithium niobate and silicon nitride.
• Arbitrary photonic to free-space mode converters for photonic interfaces to atomic systems
• Fast and Sensitive Micromechanical Sensors Using On-Chip Nanophotonic Cavities
• Infrared Imaging Beyond the Diffraction Limit

Selected Publications

• Integrating planar photonics for multi-beam generation and atomic clock packaging on chip, C. Ropp, W. Zhu, A. Yulaev, D. Westly, G. Simelgor, A. Rakholia, D. Sheredy, W. Lunden, M. Boyd, S. Papp, A. Agrawal, and V. Aksyuk, Light: Science & Applications 12, 83 (2023).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Beating thermal noise in a dynamic signal measurement by a nanofabricated cavity optomechanical sensor, M. Wang, D. J. Perez-Morelo, G. Ramer, G. Pavlidis, J. J. Schwartz, L. Yu, R. Ilic, A. Centrone, and V.A. Aksyuk, Science Advances 9, 11, eadf7595 (2023). 
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website
   
• Consciousness is learning: predictive processing systems that learn by binding may perceive themselves as conscious, V.A. Aksyuk, preprint arXiv:2301.07016
  Preprint Website

• Persistent nonlinear phase-locking and non-monotonic energy dissipation in micromechanical resonators, M. Wang, D. J. Perez-Morelo, O.D. Lopez, and V.A. Aksyuk, PRX 12 (4), 041025 (2022).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Exceptional points in lossy media lead to deep polynomial wave penetration with spatially uniform power loss, A. Yulaev, S. Kim, Q. Li, D.A. Westly, B.J. Roxworthy, K. Srinivasan, and V.A. Aksyuk, Nature Nanotechnology 17, 583–589 (2022).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Fundamental limits and optimal estimation of the resonance frequency of a linear harmonic oscillator, M. Wang, R. Zhang, R. Ilic, Y. Liu and V. A. Aksyuk, Communications Physics 4, 1-11 (2021).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Nano–opto-electro-mechanical switches operated at CMOS-level voltages, C. Haffner, A. Joerg, M. Doderer, F. Mayor, D. Chelladurai, Y. Fedoryshyn, C. I. Roman, M. Mazur, M. Burla, H.J. Lezec, V.A. Aksyuk, J. Leuthold, Science 366, 6467, 860-864 (2019).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Photonic chip for laser stabilization to an atomic vapor with 10^-11 instability, M. T. Hummon, S. Kang, D. G. Bopp, Q. Li, D. A. Westly, S. Kim, C. Fredrick, S. A. Diddams, K. Srinivasan, V. Aksyuk, and J. E. Kitching, Optica 5, 443–449 (2018).
  Journal Website

• Electrically tunable plasmomechanical oscillators for localized modulation, transduction, and amplification, B. J. Roxworthy and V. A. Aksyuk, Optica 5, 71–79 (2018).
  NIST Publication Database         Journal Website

• Imaging nanophotonic modes of microresonators using a focused ion beam, K. A. Twedt, J. Jou, M. Davanço, J. J. McClelland, and V. A. Aksyuk, Nature Photonics 10, 35-39, (2016).
  NIST Publication Database        Journal Website

• Compact nanomechanical plasmonic phase modulators, B.S. Dennis, M. I. Haftel, D. A. Czaplewski, D. Lopez, G. Blumberg, and V. A. Aksyuk, Nature Photonics 9, 267-273 (2015).
  NIST Publication Database        Journal Website

• Beam-steering micromirrors for large optical crossconnects, V.A. Aksyuk, F. Pardo, D. Carr, D. Greywall, H. B. Chan, M.E. Simon, A. Gasparyan, H. Shea, V. Lifton, C. Bolle, S. Arney, R. Frahm, M. Paczkowski, M. Haueis, R. Ryf, D.T. Neilson, J. Kim, R. Giles, and D. Bishop, Journal of Lightwave Technologies 21, 634-642, (2003).
  Journal Website

• Quantum mechanical actuation of microelectromechanical systems by the Casimir force, H. B. Chan, V.A. Aksyuk, R. N. Kleiman, D. J. Bishop, F. Capasso, Science 291, 1941-1944, (2001).
  Journal Website

• Wavelength add-drop switching using tilting mirrors, J. E. Ford, V.A. Aksyuk, D. J. Bishop, and J. A. Walker, Journal of Lightwave Technology 17, 904-911, (1999). 
  Journal Website

• Observation of mesoscopic vortex physics using micromechanical oscillators, C. A. Bolle, V. Aksyuk, F. Pardo, P. L. Gammel, E. Zeldov, E. Bucher, R. Boie, D. J. Bishop and D. R. Nelson, Nature 399, 43-46 (1999). 
  Journal Website