Shawn Yu Lin

After graduating from high school in Hualien, Taiwan, Lin attended NTU (Taipei, Taiwan) and received a B.S. in Physics in 1982. Subsequently, he attended UNC-Chapel Hill (Chapel Hill, North Carolina) and received an M.S. in Physics in 1986. Subsequently, he attended Princeton University (Princeton, New Jersey) and received a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1992.

In 1992, Lin joined the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, Yorktown Heights, NY, as a Post-doctoral Fellow. In 1994, Lin joined Sandia, Albuquerque, NM, initially as a Member-of-Technical-Staff and later became a Distinguished Member-of-Technical-Staff. Lin also served as Research Professor (Physics) at Iowa State University, Ames, IA (2000-2004), Adjunct Professor (Material Science and Engineering) at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA (2002-2004), and Visiting Scientist (Electrical Engineering) at Princeton University, Princeton, NJ (2003-2004). In 2004, he joined RPI, Troy, NY, as a Chaired Professor of Physics.{{ cite web | title = Lin on the faculty of RPI | url = https://science.rpi.edu/faculty/shawn-yu-lin | accessdate = April 27, 2023 }}

Since photonic crystals were first proposed in 1987, researchers have attempted to build practical three-dimensional photonic crystals (PCs). Lin and co-workers took photonic crystals down into the nano-realm using advanced semiconductor processing. In 1998, he developed the first large scale, 3-dimensional photonic crystal having a complete photonic band gap.

In the same year, he demonstrated the first diffraction-less guiding and bending of light in a photonic crystal with a bending radius less than the wavelength. In 2015, Lin's research was reported as a candidate for the Nobel Prize in Physics.{{ cite web | title = Science that could earn the Nobel Prize in Physics | url = https://www.foxnews.com/science/crazy-science-could-earn-a-physics-nobel-prize | accessdate = April 27, 2023 }}

In 2002, Lin created the first all-metallic photonic crystal. Upon thermal excitation, the photonic crystal reshapes the blackbody radiation spectrum and produces a coherent thermal emission. Extending this finding, Lin demonstrated that the intense photon field inside the crystal can be amplified through a non-equilibrium plasmonic excitation, leading to an order-of-magnitude enhancement of light emission beyond that predicted by the Planck blackbody radiation law.{{ cite web | title = Lin’s research on SciTechDaily | url = https://scitechdaily.com/a-new-kind-of-light-in-the-universe-super-planckian-material-emits-light-that-exceeds-limits-of-natural-law/ | accessdate = April 25, 2023 }}{{ cite web | title = Lin’s research on PHYS.ORG | url = https://phys.org/news/2020-03-advanced-super-planckian-material-led-like.html | accessdate = April 25, 2023 }}{{ cite web | title = Sandia on emission greater than predicted by Planck’s Law | url = https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/releases/2003/other/planck-lin.html | accessdate = April 28, 2023 }}

In 2007, Lin developed a meta material that constitutes “the blackest material known to science” (quote from Sir John Pendry).{{ cite web | title = BBC on the darkest material ever created | url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7190107.stm | accessdate = April 28, 2023 }}{{ cite web | title = Darkest Material on Earth | url = https://news.rpi.edu/content/2016/06/09/creator-darkest-material-earth-honored-ieee | accessdate = April 26, 2023 }} Rather than examining a single nanotube, Lin studied the collective behavior of millions of nanotubes arranged in a "nano-forest." The blackest material was shown to absorb 99.97% of incident light, a Guinness world record.The Guinness Book of World Records (Jim Pattison Group) August 24, 2007{{ cite web | title = Washington Post on the darkest material ever created | url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/02/20/ST2008022001172.html | accessdate = April 28, 2023 }} A perfectly black material is the pinnacle of stealth technology because it cannot be seen.

• "A three-dimensional photonic crystal operating at infrared wavelengths" SY Lin, JG Fleming, DL Hetherington, BK Smith, R Biswas, KM Ho, MM Sigalas, W Zubrzycki, SR Kurtz, Jim Bur, Nature 394 (6690), 251-253 (1998).
• "Optical thin-film materials with low refractive index for broadband elimination of Fresnel reflection" JQ Xi, MF Schubert, JK Kim, EF Schubert, M Chen, SY Lin, W Liu, Joe A Smart, Nature Photonics 1 (3), 176-179 (2007).
• "Experimental demonstration of guiding and bending of electromagnetic waves in a photonic crystal" SY Lin, E Chow, V Hietala, PR Villeneuve, JD Joannopoulos, Science 282 (5387), 274-276 (1998).
• "Experimental observation of an extremely dark material made by a low-density nanotube array" ZP Yang, L Ci, JA Bur, SY Lin, PM Ajayan, Nano Letters 8 (2), 446-451 (2008).
• "All-metallic three-dimensional photonic crystals with a large infrared bandgap" JG Fleming, SY Lin, I El-Kady, R Biswas, KM Ho, Nature 417 (6884), 52-55 (2002).
• "Three-dimensional control of light in a two-dimensional photonic crystal slab" E Chow, SY Lin, SG Johnson, PR Villeneuve, JD Joannopoulos, Joel R Wendt, Gregory A Vawter, W Zubrzycki, H Hou, A Alleman, Nature 407 (6807), 983-986 (2000).
• "Three-dimensional photonic-crystal emitter for thermal photovoltaic power generation" SY Lin, J Moreno, JG Fleming, Applied Physics Letters 83 (2), 380-382 (2003).

• 1999 Recipient of NOVA Award, Sandia National Laboratories.
• 1999 Recipient of R&D 100 Award, US R&D Magazine.{{ cite web | title = Sandia on R&D 100 Award | url = https://www.sandia.gov/media/NewsRel/NR1999/R&D100.htm | accessdate = April 28, 2023 }}
• 2002 Recipient of the 1st Asia-American Engineer-of-the-Year Award, US Chinese Institute of Engineering.
• 2002 Elected Fellow, APS ([https://www.aps.org/programs/honors/fellowships/archive-all.cfm List of APS Fellows]).
• 2003 Elected Fellow, OSA ([https://www.optica.org/en-us/get_involved/awards_and_honors/fellow_members/ List of OSA Fellows]).
• 2004 Recipient of New York NYSTAR Distinguished Professor Award.
• 2002-2004 Member, Technical Advisory Committee, ITRI, Taiwan.
• 2002-2004 Member, Nano Advisory Committee, ITRI, Taiwan.
• 2004 Appointed Constellation Chair Professor, RPI.
• 2004 Appointed Chair Professor, NCTU.
• 2008 Awarded Guinness World Record for discovering “the darkest material.”
• 2010-2012 Appointed Chair Professor, National Taiwan Normal University.
• 2012 Elected Fellow, AAAS ([https://www.aaas.org/sites/default/files/AR_2012_AAAS-fellows.pdf List of 2012 AAAS Fellows]).
• 2016 Recipient of the IEEE "Pioneer Award in Nanotechnology.”
• 2017 Elected Fellow, SPIE ([https://spie.org/membership/member-recognition/spie-fellows/complete-list-of-spie-fellows?SSO=1 List of SPIE Fellows]).

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people