Howard Lee

Associate Professor, Department of Physics and Astronomy

Associate Faculty, Beckman Laser Institute and Medical Clinic

Biography

Howard (Ho Wai) Lee is an Associate Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Germany in 2012 under the supervision of Prof. Philip Russell and his B.Sc. in Applied Physics from City University of Hong Kong in 2006. Lee joined UCI in 2020 after serving as an Assistant Professor at Baylor University from 2015 to 2020 and completing postdoctoral research at the California Institute of Technology from 2012 to 2015.

Lee's research focuses on active linear, nonlinear, and quantum plasmonic/metasurface/zero-index optics, quantum biophotonics and imaging, and hybrid photonic-plasmonic on-chip optical devices. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed journal publications in venues including Science, Nano Letters, Advanced Materials, and ACS Photonics, and has delivered more than 100 invited talks at international conferences. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, DARPA, Air Force Office of Scientific Research, and other agencies, with total external grants exceeding $6 million. Lee has received numerous honors including the 2024 SPIE Fellow, 2023 UCI Beall Innovation Award in Physical Sciences, 2018 NSF CAREER Award, and 2017 DARPA Young Faculty Award.

At UCI, Lee teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in physics and astronomy while mentoring a large research group that includes doctoral students, postdoctoral researchers, and undergraduate students. He has supervised over 40 students and researchers, many of whom have pursued successful careers in academia and industry. Lee also contributes extensively to professional service, serving as Associate Editor for multiple journals including Scientific Reports and Photonics, organizing symposiums at major conferences such as the Materials Research Society meetings, and participating in review panels for NSF and DOE. He holds 11 patents and serves as a Fellow of SPIE and member of multiple professional organizations.

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Education

BSc in Applied Physics, City University of Hong Kong, 2006
MPhil in Electronic Engineering, City University of Hong Kong, 2008
PhD in Physics, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light, 2012

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Distinctions

SPIE Fellow, 2024
Finalist of Moore Inventor Fellow, Moore Foundation, 2022-2023
DARPA Director's Fellowship, 2019
OSA Ambassador, Optical Society of America, 2018
UCI Beall Innovation Award in Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, 2023
iCANX Young Scientist Award, 2022
Finalist of Rising Stars of Light, iCANX, 2021
SPIE Rising Researcher, 2020
DARPA Young Faculty, 2017
NSF CAREER, National Science Foundation, 2018
Baylor Outstanding Professor, Baylor University, 2020
Baylor Young Investigator, Baylor University, 2018

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Areas of Expertise

Active Nanophotonics
Epsilon Near Zero Materials
Plasmonic Metasurfaces
Conducting Oxide Photonics
Quantum Optical Emission
Meta Optical Fibers
Zero Index Waveguides
Machine Learning Design
Nonlinear Optical Effects

Recent Publications

L. Zhang, S. Love, A. Anopchenko, H. W. Lee, “Hollow Core Optical Fiber Enabled by Epsilon-Near-Zero Material” (opens in new tab), Nanophotonics, vol. 13, pp. 1025-1031, 2024.
A. Anopchenko, S. Gurung, S. Bej, H. W. Lee, “Field Enhancement of Epsilon-near-Zero Modes in Realistic Ultra-Thin Absorbing Films” (opens in new tab), Nanophotonics, vol. 12, pp. 2913, 2023.
J. Yang, K. Minn, A. Anopchenko, S. Gurung, H. W. Lee, “Excitation of Epsilon‐Near‐Zero Mode in Optical Fiber” (opens in new tab), Laser and Photonics Reviews, vol. 17, pp. 2200539, 2023.
D. Dang, A. Anopchenko, S. Gurung, Z. Liu, X. Zhou, H. W. Lee, “Neural network design of broadband epsilon near zero perfect optical absorbers” (opens in new tab), Journal of Materials Chemistry C, vol. 11, pp. 12906-12914, 2023.
J. Yang, K. Minn, A. Anopchenko, S. Gurung, H. W. Lee, “Excitation of Epsilon‐Near‐Zero Mode in Optical Fiber”, Laser & Photonics Reviews, vol. 17, pp. 2200539, 2023.
J. Yang, S. Gurung, S. Bej, P. Ni, H. W. Lee, “Active Optical Metasurfaces: A Comprehensive Review on Physics, Mechanisms, and Prospective Applications” (opens in new tab), Reports on Progress in Physics, vol. 85, pp. 036101, 2022.
Indra Ghimire, Jingyi Yang, Sudip Gurung, Satyendra K. Mishra, Ho Wai Howard Lee, “Polarization-dependent photonic crystal fiber optical filters enabled by asymmetric metasurfaces” (opens in new tab), Nanophotonics, vol. 11, pp. 2711-2717, 2022.
J. Yang, S. Gurung, S. Bej, P. Ni, H. W. Lee, “Active Optical Metasurfaces: A Comprehensive Review on Physics, Mechanisms, and Prospective Applications”, Reports on Progress in Physics, vol. 85, pp. 036101, 2022.
I. Ghimire, J. Yang, S. Gurung, S. K. Mishra, H. W. Lee, “Polarization dependent metasurface color filter in highly birefringence photonic crystal fiber”, Nanophotonics, vol. 11, pp. 2711-2717, 2022.
K. Minn, A. Anopchenko, C. Chang, J. Kim, Y. J. Lu, S. Gwo, H. W. Lee, “Enhanced Spontaneous Emission of Monolayer MoS2 on Epitaxially Grown Titanium Nitride Epsilon-Near-Zero Thin Films” (opens in new tab), Nano Letters, vol. 21, pp. 4928, 2021.
K. Minn, B. Birmingham, B. Ko, H. W. Lee, Z. Zhang, “Interfacing photonic crystal fiber with metallic nanoantenna for enhanced light nano-focusing” (opens in new tab), Photonics Research, vol. 9, pp. 282-285, 2021.
K. Minn, A. Anopchenko, C. Chang, J. Kim, Y. J. Lu, S. Gwo, H. W. Lee, “Enhanced Spontaneous Emission of Monolayer MoS2 on Epitaxially Grown Titanium Nitride Epsilon-Near-Zero Thin Films”, Nano Letter, vol. 21, pp. 4928, 2021.
K. Minn, B. Birmingham, B. Ko, H. W. Lee, Z. Zhang, “Interfacing photonic crystal fiber with metallic nanoantenna for enhanced light nano-focusing”, Photonics Research, vol. 9, pp. 282-285, 2021.

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Most Cited Publications

Y. W. Huang, H. W. Lee, R. Sokhoyan, R. Pala, K. Thyagarajan, S. Han, D. P. Tsai, H. A. Atwater, “Gate-tunable conducting oxide metasurfaces” (opens in new tab), Nano Letters, vol. 16, pp. 5319-5325, 2016.
H. W. Lee, G. Papadakis, S. P. Burgos, K. Chander, A. Kriesch, R. Pala, U. Peschel, H. A. Atwater, “Nanoscale conducting oxide plasMOStor” (opens in new tab), Nano Letters, vol. 14, pp. 6463-6468, 2014.
H. W. Lee, M. A. Schmidt, H. K. Tyagi, L. P. Sempere, P. St.J. Russell, “Polarization-dependent coupling to plasmon modes on submicron gold wire in photonic crystal fiber” (opens in new tab), Applied Physics Letters, vol. 93, pp. 111102, 2008.
H. W. Lee, M. A. Schmidt, R. F. Russell, N. Y. Joly, H. K. Tyagi, P. Uebel, P. St.J. Russell, “Pressure-assisted melt-filling and optical characterisation of Au nano-wires in microstructured fibres” (opens in new tab), Optics Express, vol. 19, pp. 12180-12189, 2011.
H. K. Tyagi, H. W. Lee, P. Uebel, M. A. Schmidt, N. Y. Joly, M. Scharrer, P. St.J. Russell, “Plasmon resonances on gold nanowires directly drawn in step-index fiber” (opens in new tab), Optics Letters, vol. 35, pp. 2573-2575, 2010.
J. Yang, I Ghirmire, P. C. Wu, S. Gurung, C. Arndt, A. D. P. Tsai, H. W. Lee, “Photonic crystal fiber metalens” (opens in new tab), Nanophotonics, vol. 8, pp. 443-449, 2019.
Y. Liu, H. W. Lee, K. S. Chiang, T. Zhu, Y. J. Rao, “Glass structure changes in CO₂ laser writing of long-period gratings in boron-doped single-mode fibers” (opens in new tab), Journal of Lightwave Technology, vol. 27, pp. 857-863, 2009.
H. W. Lee, M. A. Schmidt, P. Uebel, H. Tyagi, N. Y. Joly, M. Scharrer, P. St.J. Russell, “Optofluidic refractive-index sensor in step-index fiber with parallel hollow micro-channel” (opens in new tab), Optics Express, vol. 19, pp. 8200-8207, 2011.
A. Anopchenko, L. Tao, C. Arndt, H. W. Lee, “Field-effect tunable and broadband Epsilon-near-zero perfect absorbers with deep subwavelength thickness” (opens in new tab), ACS Photonics, vol. 5, pp. 2631, 2018.
H. W. Lee, M. A. Schmidt, P. St.J. Russell, “Excitation of a nanowire "molecule" in gold-filled photonic crystal fiber” (opens in new tab), Optics Letters, vol. 37, pp. 2946-2948, 2012.

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Contact Information

Website: https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/lee-lab/home

Email: Howardhw.lee@uci.edu

Phone: +1 (626) 417-2823

Address: Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697-4575, United States

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This profile was created with the help of AI.

Last updated on 7/28/2025.