oskooi

I am a software engineer at Google in Mountain View, CA working on Augmented Reality (AR). Previously, I was at X (Alphabet's "Moonshot Factory") and before that I was the Founder/CEO of Simpetus, a National Science Foundation (NSF) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) backed (Phase I and II) company accelerating innovation and discovery in electromagnetics with simulations. Simpetus is a portmanteau: simulations as an impetus for new discoveries and technologies.

I received a doctorate from MIT where I worked with Professor Steven G. Johnson to develop the open-source software package for electromagnetics simulation MEEP (thesis: Computation & Design for Nanophotonics). I have a masters degree in Computation for Design and Optimization from MIT, and undergraduate degree, with honors, in Engineering Science from the University of Toronto. I worked as a postdoctoral researcher with Professors Susumu Noda at Kyoto University and Stephen R. Forrest at the University of Michigan.

My research focus has been to advance computational electromagnetics to enable new technologies based on nanostructured optoelectronic devices. For silicon solar-energy applications, I demonstrated how light trapping can surpass a well-known limit. For organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) used in displays and solid-state lighting, I showed how to increase energy efficiency and lifetime. For a summary of my work, check out these seminar slides, seminar video, and podcast.

ardavan.oskooi@gmail.com

research summary: 1 book, 14 first-author journal publications, 4 issued patents, 5000+ citations

Books

A. Taflove, A. Oskooi, and S.G. Johnson, Advances in FDTD Computational Electrodynamics: Photonics and Nanotechnology, Boston: Artech (2013). [670 pages, Hardcover & Kindle formats: Amazon, B&N.] Chinese translation: Tsinghua University Press, 2019.

Journal Publications

M. Chen, R.E. Christensen, J. Fan, G. Isiklar, J. Jiang, S.G. Johnson, W. Ma, O.D. Miller, A. Oskooi, M.F. Schubert, F. Wang, I.A.D. Williamson, W. Xue, and Y. Zhou, "Validation and characterization of algorithms and software for photonics inverse design," J. Optical Society of America B, 41, pp. A161-176 (2024). [Feature Issue on Inverse Design in Photonics]

A.M. Hammond, A. Oskooi, M. Chen, Z. Lin, S.G. Johnson, and S.E. Ralph, "High-performance hybrid time/frequency-domain topology optimization for large-scale photonics inverse design," Optics Express, 30, pp. 4467-4491 (2022).

A.M. Hammond, A. Oskooi, S.G. Johnson, and S.E. Ralph, "Photonic topology optimization with semiconductor-foundry design-rule constraints," Optics Express, 29, pp. 23916-23938 (2021).

A. Oskooi, C. Hogan, A.M. Hammond, M.T. Homer Reid, and S.G. Johnson, "Factorized Machine Learning for Performance Modeling of Massively Parallel Heterogeneous Physical Simulations", arVix: 2003.04287, (March 2020).

A. Oskooi, "Texturing the cathode of white organic light-emitting diodes with a lattice of nanoscale scatterers for enhanced light out-coupling,'' Applied Physics Letters, 106, 041111 (2015). [additional data for blue OLEDs]

A. Panda, C.K. Renshaw, A. Oskooi, K. Lee, and S.R. Forrest, "Excited state and charge dynamics of hybrid organic/inorganic heterojunctions. II. Experiment,'' Physical Review B, 90, 045303 (2014).

A. Oskooi, M. De Zoysa, K. Ishizaki, and S. Noda, "Experimental demonstration of quasi-resonant absorption in silicon thin films for enhanced solar light trapping,'' ACS Photonics, 1, pp. 304-309 (2014).

A. Oskooi, Y. Tanaka, and S. Noda, "Tandem photonic-crystal thin films surpassing Lambertian light-trapping limit over broad bandwidth and angular range,'' Applied Physics Letters, 104, 091121 (2014).

A. Oskooi and S.G. Johnson, "Electromagnetic Wave Source Conditions,'' in Advances in FDTD Computational Electrodynamics: Photonics and Nanotechnology (A. Taflove, A. Oskooi, and S. G. Johnson), ch. 4, pp. 65-100, Boston: Artech (2013).

T. Inoue, T. Asano, M. De Zoysa, A. Oskooi, and S. Noda "Design of single-mode narrow-bandwidth thermal emitters for enhanced infrared light sources'' J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 30, pp. 165-172 (2013).

H. Shigeta, M. Fujita, Y. Tanaka, A. Oskooi, H. Ogawa, Y. Tsuda, and S. Noda, "Enhancement of photocurrent in ultrathin active-layer photodetecting devices with photonic crystals,'' Applied Physics Letters, 101, 161103 (2012).

A. Oskooi, A. Mutapcic, S. Noda, J.D. Joannopoulos, S.P. Boyd, and S.G. Johnson, "Robust optimization of adiabatic tapers for coupling to slow-light photonic-crystal waveguides,'' Optics Express, 20, pp. 21558-21575 (2012).

M. De Zoysa, T. Asano, K. Mochizuki, A. Oskooi, T. Inoue, and S. Noda, "Conversion of broadband to narrowband thermal emission through energy recycling,'' Nature Photonics, 6, pp. 535-539 (2012).

A. Oskooi, P.A. Favuzzi, Y. Tanaka, H. Shigeta, Y. Kawakami, and S. Noda, "Partially-disordered photonic-crystal thin films for enhanced and robust photovoltaics,'' Applied Physics Letters, 100, 181110 (2012). [selected for Virtual J. Nano. Sci. & Tech.]

A. Oskooi, P.A. Favuzzi, Y. Kawakami, and S. Noda, "Tailoring repulsive optical forces in nanophotonic waveguides,'' Optics Letters, 36, pp. 4638-4640 (2011). [highlighted in Nature Physics]

H. Hashemi, A. Oskooi, J.D. Joannopoulos, and S.G. Johnson, "General scaling limitations of ground plane cloaks,'' Physical Review A, 84, 023815 (2011).

A. Oskooi and S.G. Johnson, "Distinguishing correct from incorrect PML proposals and a corrected unsplit PML for anisotropic, dispersive media,'' J. Computational Physics, 230, pp. 2369-2377 (2011).

L. Zhang, J. H. Lee, A. Oskooi, A. Hochman, J. K. White, and S.G. Johnson, "A novel boundary element method using surface conductive absorbers for full-wave analysis of 3-D nanophotonics,'' J. Lightwave Technology, 29, pp. 949-959, (2011).

A.F. Oskooi, D. Roundy, M. Ibanescu, P. Bermel, J.D. Joannopoulos, and S.G. Johnson, "MEEP: A flexible free-software package for electromagnetic simulations by the FDTD method,'' Computer Physics Communications, 181, pp. 687-702 (2010). [among most cited papers in journal]

A.F. Oskooi, C. Kottke, and S.G. Johnson, "Accurate finite-difference time-domain simulation of anisotropic media by subpixel smoothing,'' Optics Letters, 34, pp. 2778-2780 (2009).

P.-R. Loh, A. F. Oskooi, M. Ibanescu, M. Skorobogatiy, and S.G. Johnson, "A fundamental relation between phase and group velocity, and application to failure of PML in backward-wave structures,'' Physical Review E, 79, 065601 (2009).

A. Mutapcic, S. Boyd, A. Farjadpour, S.G. Johnson, and Y. Avniel, "Robust design of slow-light tapers in periodic waveguides,'' Engineering Optimization, 41, pp. 365-384 (2009).

A.F. Oskooi, J.D. Joannopoulos, and S.G. Johnson, "Zero--group-velocity modes in chalcogenide holey photonic-crystal fibers,'' Optics Express, 17, pp. 10082-10090 (2009).

A.F. Oskooi, L. Zhang, Y. Avniel, and S.G. Johnson, "The failure of perfectly matched layers, and towards their redemption by adiabatic absorbers,'' Optics Express, 16, pp. 11376-11392 (2008).

K.K. Lee, A. Farjadpour, Y. Avniel, J.D. Joannopoulos, and S.G. Johnson, "A tale of two limits: fundamental properties of photonic-crystal fibers,'' Proc. SPIE, vol. 6901, 69010K (2008). [invited paper]

C. Kottke, A. Farjadpour, and S.G. Johnson, "Perturbation theory for anisotropic dielectric interfaces, and application to sub-pixel smoothing of discretized numerical methods,'' Physical Review E, 77, 036611 (2008).

A. Farjadpour, D. Roundy, A. Rodriguez, M. Ibanescu, P. Bermel, J.D. Joannopoulos, S.G. Johnson, and G.W. Burr, "Improving accuracy by subpixel smoothing in the finite-difference time domain,'' Optics Letters, 31, pp. 2972-2974 (2006).

G.W. Burr and A. Farjadpour, "Balancing accuracy against computation time: 3-D FDTD for nanophotonics device optimization,'' Proc. SPIE, vol. 5733, pp. 336-347 (2005).

Patents

US Patent 10,211,429 Enhancing Light Extraction of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes via Nanoscale Texturing of Electrode Surfaces (pdf)

US Patent 9,761,842 Enhancing Light Extraction of Organic Light-Emitting Diodes via Nanoscale Texturing of Electrode Surfaces (pdf)

US Patent App. 14/784,862 Photonic Crystal and Optical Functional Device Including the Same (pdf)

US Patent 9,052,434 Zero Group-Velocity Modes in Chalcogenide Holey Photonic Crystal Fibers (pdf)

Technical Notes

A. Cerjan, A. Oskooi, S.-L. Chua, and S.G. Johnson, ``Modeling Lasers and Saturable Absorbers via Multilevel Atomic Media in the Meep FDTD Software: Theory and Implementation,'' arXiv: 2007.09329, (July 2020).


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