Each year, the Materials Research Society (MRS) recognizes a select group of outstanding poster presentations at its semi-annual meeting with the Best Poster Award. This Spring, the award was presented to UCLA Ph.D. student Pavel Shafirin for his work on nonlinear optical signal generation in two-dimensional materials.
The research, conducted in Professor Artur Davoyan’s group by Pavel alongside UCLA postdoctoral researcher Mozakkar Hossain and 2024 MAE Ph.D. graduate Haonan Ling, explores innovative methods to enhance light frequency conversion—a process that is typically quite weak—through the use of novel materials and nanoscale engineering. The findings hold promise for enabling new approaches to light generation and optical signal processing at the nanoscale.