Dr Ying-Lung Daniel Ho, an Associate Professor of Nanophotonics and Electrical Engineering, joined Northumbria University in 2019. His research group, the Nanophotonic Engineering Laboratory (NEL), explores various research areas, including artificially structured functional materials, opto-electrical characteristics, scattering reflectance measurements, micro/nanofabrication techniques, and real-time monitoring using machine learning and the Internet of Things (IoT). These research endeavours pave the way for applications in nanophotonics, optoelectronics, energy storage, smart medical devices, and quantum technologies. His current research projects are generously funded by EPSRC.

Daniel's research is concerned with both the theory and application of artificially structured electromagnetic materials for photonic engineering, quantum technologies, and medical & energy applications.

1. Nanophotonics & Quantum Optics:
   • Single-photons on demand
   • 3D Nanophotonics in artificially structured materials
   • Micro-Nanostructure-Stabilized Liquid-Crystalline Blue-Phase
   • Optical Microcavites and Cavity Quantum Electrodynamics
2. Nano/Micro-Structured Materials for Energy Applications:
   • Solar-thermal absorbers
   • 3D Architectured Hybrid Materials for Electrodes and Catalysts
3. Nano/Micro-Structured Materials for Medical Applications:
   • Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing

Current project grants:

1. Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces For Selective Absorbers (EP/Y016440/1, Co-PI) – EPSRC – £1,384,021.25 (FEC 100%) – 04/09/2024 to 03/09/2027.
2. Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring (EP/Y003551/1, PI) – £161,161.25 (FEC 100%) – 01/04/2024 to 31/03/2026.

Past project grants:

1. 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials (EP/V040030/1, PI) – EPSRC New Investigator Award – £474,704 (FEC 100%), 01/09/2021 to 31/08/2024.
2. Additive Nano-Manufacturing of Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing (Co-PI) – 2022 Academia Sinica Catalyst Award – US$100,000, 01/09/2022 to 31/08/2024.
3. Exploring Topology-optimised Metasurface Architectures for Solar-thermal Absorption (RGS\R1\221031, PI) – Royal Society – £19,954 – 21/03/2022 to 30/06/2023.
4. Linguistics Course (Co-I) – Regional Center and Nancy Territorial Center, Epinal – £30,000 – 1/03/20 to 30/04/20.
5. Chalcogenide Direct Write 3D Nanophononics (Co-I) – EPSRC Manufacturing Advanced Functional Materials Programme, ChAMP and WAFT Collaboration Fund – £4,200 – 15/05/2018 to 30/09/2018.
6. Structural integrity characterisation of nuclear materials via nano additive manufacturing (EP/P034446/1, Co-I) – £252183.75 (FEC 100%), 20/03/2017 to 19/09/2019.
7. Novel liquid crystal infiltrated microstructures and their applications (Co-I) – Royal Society, MOST-RS International Exchange Scheme 2017 – £11,700 – 01/03/2017 to 28/02/2019.
8. All dielectric surface wave devices for light generation with 2D material (Co-I) EPSRC Future Photonics Hub, Innovation Partnership Fund – £62,265 – 01/02/2017 to 31/01/2018.
9. Chalcogenide Photonic Technologies (EP/M009033/1, Researcher Co-I) – £699,375 (FEC 100%) – 01/05/2015 to 30/04/2018.

Accepting PhD Students to join the Nanophotonic Engineering Laboratory (NEL)

If you are an exceptional candidate with an interest in the following topics, please contact: [email protected] or [email protected]

• Three-dimensional Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Materials.
• Artificially Nano-structured Materials for Three-dimensional Electrodes and Catalysts.
• Scalable Two-dimensional Layered Materials for Efficient Quantum Photon Sources.
• Topology-optimised Metasurface Architectures for Solar-Thermal Absorption.
• Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring.
• Micro-Nanostructure-Stabilized Liquid-Crystalline Blue-Phase.

Latest News

• 25-11-2024 Our project, ‘HyMeta: Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces for Selective Absorbers (EP/Y016440/1),’ has been shortlisted in the Energy and Environment category. NEL is honored to be part of this highly promising project and to collaborate with such an outstanding team.
• 01-10-2024 NEL welcomes its new PhD student: Mr. Owen Bell.
• 11-04-2024 Our EPSRC joint project (EP/Y016440/1) "Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces for Selective Absorbers" has just been granted! A news item is released - Project to boost solar energy capture awarded £1.1 million.
• 12-02-2024 Check out our collaboration with Dr Jonathan Mar from Newcastle University to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, which is now available to the public! X(Twitter), LinkedIn, facebook, Threads, and Instagram.
• 09-01-2024 Our EPSRC networking project (EP/Y003551/1), which has recently been granted, is featured in the Engineer Magazine - Smart Stent to warn of restenosis.
• 18 – 21-09 2023 Nadira will present the paper "3D Pyrolyzed Carbon Modified with g-C3N4@Ni Electrodeposit for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation" at the E-MRS 2023 Fall Meeting in Warsaw, Poland.
• 29-05-2023 Our EPSRC ECR international collaboration grant project "Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring" has just been granted!
• 26 – 30 June NEL will present the papers at the CLEO®/Europe-EQEC 2023 in Munich, Germany.
• 25-04-2023 Check out our latest publication on “Conformal CVD-grown MoS2 on Three-dimensional Woodpile Photonic Crystals for Photonic Bandgap Engineering”, ACS Applied Optical Materials. 
• 29 May - 02 June 2023 NEL presented the papers at the E-MRS 2023 Spring Meeting in Strasbourg, France.
• 28-09-2022 Our joint research proposal Catalyst Award (Academia Sinica of Taiwan - Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge Competition) with Dr. Yu-Sheng Lin from Southern Taiwan University of Science and technology has just been granted.
• 30-08-2022 NEL presented the paper and poster at the Photon 2022 Conference in Nottingham, UK.
• 21-03-2022 Our Royal Society Research Grant to fund equipment has just been granted, which is for a heated microscope stage to characterise materials properties of solar thermal absorbers.
• 01-03-2022 NEL welcomes its new PhD student: Miss Nadira Hameed.
• 23-02-2022 Check out our latest publication on Strongly Confining Light with Air-Mode Cavities in Inverse Rod-Connected Diamond Photonic Crystals.
• 22-09-2021 NEL has a fully funded PhD position available to study Artificially Nano-structured Materials for Three-dimensional Electrodes and Catalysts.
• 01-09-2021 NEL welcomes its new member: Dr. Mike Taverne.
• 04-06-2021 NEL has a Research Fellow position available in Experimental Nanophotonics.
• 10-03-2021 Our EPSRC New Investigator Award project 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials has just been granted!
• 02-12-2019 NEL has a fully funded PhD position available to study 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials