Natalia Litchinitser Named a Fellow of IEEE

Natalia Litchinitser, professor of electrical and computer engineering (ECE), has been named a fellow by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), one of the highest recognitions for academic engineers.

The distinction recognizes Litchinitser, who has secondary appointments in physics and mechanical engineering and materials science, for her contributions to antiresonant photonic-crystal fibers and structured light engineering.

Fellow is the highest grade of membership within the professional organization, and individuals are elevated based on outstanding records of accomplishments in an IEEE field. The designation is recognized as both a benchmark in a research career and a prestigious honor.

Litchinitser’s lab primarily focuses on theoretical and experimental studies of structured light and structured materials that manipulate the visible portion of the electromagnetic spectrum. Recently published works in Nature Communications and Science Advances describe the ability to tie laser light into “optical knots” that transmit encoded information through complex environments, and to clone such three-dimensional knotted field structures across multiple frequencies using topology-imprinting nonlinear metasurfaces.

Her pioneering contributions to science and engineering include the invention of the antiresonant guiding model, which made it possible to design today’s microstructured optical fibers. Introduced more than two decades ago, this model has since been widely adopted by academic and industrial groups and adapted across multiple hollow-core fiber platforms—including Kagome, negative-curvature and ring-cladding structures that offer broadband and low-loss performance. Her research has also expanded into metamaterials-on-fiber and transition metamaterials, linear and nonlinear metasurfaces for structured-light generation, supersymmetry in optics, optical knots and skyrmions, light filamentation and machine learning.

IEEE is the world’s largest technical professional organization for the advancement of technology. Fewer than one-tenth of one percent of voting members are selected each year to become fellows.