Rate My Professor Jelena Vuckovic

Her research interests are in photonics, quantum science and engineering, quantum optics, photonics inverse design, nonlinear optics, and cavity quantum electrodynamics. The Nanoscale and Quantum Photonics Lab develops semiconductor-based photonic chip-scale systems to explore new regimes of light-matter interaction and create platforms for classical and quantum information processing technologies. Current efforts include semiconductor quantum systems using diamond, silicon carbide, and gallium arsenide for quantum simulators, networks, and sensors; heterogeneously integrated, inverse-designed photonics for optical interconnects, computing, and sensors; and on-chip integrated laser systems, including Ti:sapphire lasers. Key publications include "Indistinguishable photons from a single-photon device" (Nature, 2002), "Inverse design in nanophotonics" (Nature Photonics, 2018), "On-chip integrated laser-driven particle accelerator" (Science, 2020), and "Inverse-designed diamond photonics" (Nature Communications, 2019). Vuckovic has earned the 2026 R. W. Wood Prize from Optica, 2025 ZEISS Research Award, 2022 Vannevar Bush Faculty Fellowship, 2023 Geoffrey Frew Fellowship from the Australian Academy of Sciences, 2019 IET A. F. Harvey Engineering Research Prize, Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2007), Humboldt Prize (2010), and fellowships from the American Physical Society, Optica, and IEEE. She was the Mildred Dresselhaus Lecturer at MIT in 2021 and James Gordon Memorial Speaker in 2020. Vuckovic is lead editor of Physical Review Applied, serves on the editorial board of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, and is co-founder and lead scientific advisor of SPINS Photonics.