About

Eric Mazur is the Balkanski Professor of Physics and Applied Physics and Area Dean of Applied Physics at Harvard University. He leads a research program in optical physics and supervises one of the largest research groups in the Physics Department. Mazur came to Harvard University in 1982 after obtaining his Ph.D. at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands. He has made important contributions to spectroscopy, light scattering, the interaction of ultrashort laser pulses with materials, and nanophotonics. Mazur has received numerous awards, including the Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teachers and the Minerva Prize for Advancements in Higher Education in 2014.

Research topics

• Materials science
• Optics
• Optoelectronics
• Physics
• Nanotechnology

Selected publications

• MEMS-based twisted bilayer flat optics for multidimensional optical modulation and hyperimaging

  2025-03-19

  articleSenior author
  PublisherDOI

• An adaptive moiré sensor for spectro-polarimetric hyperimaging

  Nature Photonics · 2025-04-03 · 22 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Multi-degree-of-freedom control of nonlinear optical two-dimensional quantum materials

  2025-03-19

  article

  We present the first on-chip microelectromechanical system (MEMS) capable of in situ tuning twisted 2D materials. This research allows for the dynamic control of interfacial properties, the creation of synthetic topological singularities, and the development of tunable-polarization light sources, enabling advanced quantum material manipulation in integrated 2D-3D devices.

  PublisherDOI

• Flat-Band Photonic Waveguides

  2025-01-01

  articleOpen accessSenior author

  We experimentally demonstrate a moiré photonic crystal waveguide, achieving adjustable flat band count and flatness by varying moiré periodicity and modulation strength. We confirm the observation of flat bands with a minimum 6-nm bandwidth.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Plasmonic photothermal printing of all-metal-oxide electronics

  Light Science & Applications · 2025-09-15 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  A recent paper by Dangyuan Lei and colleagues at the City University of Hong Kong in Nature Materials presents a novel quasi-4D plasmonic photothermal printing technology.This new approach overcomes long-standing limitations in micro/nano-patterning by enabling the direct laser patterning of functional metal-oxide (MO) materialssuch as conducting ITO, semiconducting IGZO, and insulating AlO x -without the need for photoresists or hightemperature annealing.Unlike traditional "indirect" patterning methods (e.g., photolithography or nanoimprint lithography), this method uses femtosecond-laser-excited silver nanowires to generate rapid (<0.3 s) localized heating, converting MO precursors into high-performance thin films with simultaneous patterning at room temperature and in ambient air.Critically, this single-step, additive process supports heterogeneous integration of different MOs, paving the way for all-MO electronics.The researchers demonstrated the densest all-MO transistor array to date-at 48,400 transistors/cm 2 -and functional logic gates, all fabricated without vacuum or thermal treatments.The printed devices show electrical performance comparable to those made by conventional high-temperature or vacuum-based approaches.This universal, high-resolution, and energy-efficient printing platform sets a new paradigm for scalable, lowcost, and environmentally friendly microfabrication of next-generation electronics, with broad applications from active-matrix displays to logic circuits.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cargo Delivery to Cells Using Laser-Irradiated Carbon-Black-Loaded Polydimethylsiloxane

  ACS Materials Letters · 2025-04-04 · 2 citations

  articleSenior author

  Effective intracellular delivery is essential for successful gene editing of cells. Spatially selective delivery to cells that is simultaneously precise, consistent, and nondestructive remains challenging using conventional state-of-the-art techniques. Here, we introduce a carrier-free method for spatiotemporal delivery of fluorescently labeled cargo into both adherent and suspension cells using carbon-black-embedded polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) substrates irradiated by nanosecond laser pulses. This low-cost, biocompatible material, coupled with an optical approach, enables scalable, spatially selective, and sequential delivery of multiple cargo molecules, including FITC-Dextran and siRNA, to a broad range of cells. Notably, we achieved siRNA delivery into the cytoplasm of hard-to-transfect K562 cells with 45% efficiency, while maintaining nearly 100% cell viability.

  PublisherDOI

• Long-range quantum entanglement in dielectric mu-near-zero metamaterials

  Light Science & Applications · 2025-09-03 · 2 citations

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Entanglement is paramount in quantum information processing. Many quantum systems suffer from spatial decoherence in distances over a wavelength and cannot be sustained over short time periods due to dissipation. However, long range solutions are required for the development of quantum information processing on chip. Photonic reservoirs mediating the interactions between qubits and their environment are suggested. Recent research takes advantage of extended wavelength inside near-zero refractive index media to solve the long-range problem along with less sensitivity on the position of quantum emitters. However, those recent proposals use plasmonic epsilon near-zero waveguides that are intrinsically lossy. Here, we propose a fully dielectric platform, compatible with the Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) diamond centers on-chip technology, to drastically improve the range of entanglement over 17 free-space wavelengths, or approximatively 12.5 µm, using mu near-zero metamaterials. We evaluate transient and steady state concurrence demonstrating an order of magnitude enhancement compared to previous works. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time that such a long distance is reported using this strategy. Moreover, value of the zero time delay second order correlation function $${g}_{12}^{(2)}(0)$$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mrow> <mml:msubsup> <mml:mrow> <mml:mi>g</mml:mi> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mn>12</mml:mn> </mml:mrow> <mml:mrow> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>2</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:msubsup> <mml:mo>(</mml:mo> <mml:mn>0</mml:mn> <mml:mo>)</mml:mo> </mml:mrow> </mml:math> are provided, showing antibunching signature correlated with a high degree of concurrence.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Long-range quantum entanglement in dielectric mu-near-zero metamaterials

  ArXiv.org · 2025-04-27

  preprintOpen access

  Entanglement is paramount in quantum information processing. Many quantum systems suffer from spatial decoherence in distances over a wavelength and cannot be sustained over short time periods due to dissipation. However, long range solutions are required for the development of quantum information processing on chip. Photonic reservoirs mediating the interactions between qubits and their environment are suggested. Recent research takes advantage of extended wavelength inside near-zero refractive index media to solve the long-range problem along with less sensitivity on the position of quantum emitters. However, those recent proposals use plasmonic epsilon near-zero waveguides that are intrinsically lossy. Here, we propose a fully dielectric platform, compatible with the Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) diamond centers on-chip technology, to drastically improve the range of entanglement over 17 free-space wavelengths, or approximatively 12.5 microns, using mu near-zero metamaterials. We evaluate transient and steady state concurrence demonstrating an order of magnitude enhancement compared to previous works. This is, to the best of our knowledge, the first time that such a long distance is reported using this strategy. Moreover, value of the zero time delay second order correlation function g_12^((2)) (0) are provided, showing antibunching signature correlated with a high degree of concurrence.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Erratum: Three-Dimensional Reconfigurable Optical Singularities in Bilayer Photonic Crystals [Phys. Rev. Lett. <b>132</b>, 073804 (2024)]

  Physical Review Letters · 2025-05-28 · 1 citations

  erratumOpen access

  In the original Letter, the value for the thickness of each slab was mistakenly reported as 0.54a; the correct value is 0.35a.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Active Optical Chiral Nanocavity through MEMS-integrated Twisted Bilayer Photonic Crystals

  2024-01-01

  article

  We experimentally demonstrate a MEMS-integrated bilayer photonic crystals with tunable intrinsic chirality. By controlling the interlayer gap and twist angle between the two photonic crystal layers, the circular dichroism varies from 0 to 0.85.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Study of Plasmon-Assisted Cell Transfection

  NSF · $688k · 2012–2018

• TiO2 ultrafast all-optical devices

  NSF · $375k · 2012–2015

• Integrated Photonic Chips for Generating Entangled Photon Triplets

  NSF · $450k · 2014–2017

• SGER: Exploring the Electron and Lattice Dynamics during Ultrafast Laser P-Type-Doping of ZnO

  NSF · $50k · 2008–2009

• Miniaturization of Microphotonic Devices using Silica Nanowires

  NSF · $246k · 2006–2009

Frequent coauthors

• Orad Reshef

  University of Ottawa

  39 shared

• Meng‐Ju Sher

  Wesleyan University

  35 shared

• Haoning Tang

  Harvard University

  33 shared

• E. Napolitani

  Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare, Sezione di Padova

  33 shared

• Limin Tong

  Zhejiang University

  31 shared

• David Pastor

  26 shared

• Hemi H. Gandhi

  25 shared

• Cléber Renato Mendonça

  24 shared

Education

• Research Fellow (postdoctoral), Division of Applied Sciences

  Harvard University

  1984

• Ph.D. (cum laude), Physics

  Leiden University

  1981

• M.Sc., Physics

  Leiden University

  1977

Awards & honors

• Millikan Medal from the American Association of Physics Teac…
• Minerva Prize for Advancements in Higher Education (2014)