Fiorenzo Omenetto

Fiorenzo Omenetto is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering and leads the laboratory for Ultrafast Nonlinear Optics and Biophotonics at Tufts University and also holds an appointment in the Department of Physics.

A J. Robert Oppenheimer Fellow at Los Alamos National Laboratory before joining Tufts, his research is focused on interdisciplinary themes that span nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), optofluidics and biopolymer based photonics.

He has published over 100 papers and peer-review contributions across these various disciplines.

Since moving to Tufts at the end of 2005, he has proposed and pioneered (with David Kaplan) the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics and high-technology applications.

This research platform was recently featured in MIT's Technology Review as one of the 2010 "top ten technologies likely to change the world."

Prof. Omenetto's research is heavily focused on interdisciplinary themes that span nonlinear optics, nanostructured materials (such as photonic crystals and photonic crystal fibers), optofluidics and biopolymer based photonics.

The laboratory has pioneered the use of silk as a material platform for photonics, optoelectronics and high-technology applications and is actively investigating novel applications that rely on this new technology base.

The laboratory leverages tools and methods based on tunable femtosecond optical pulses (such as 2D and 3D micromachining of organic and inorganic materials) , and carries out research on new fiber-based and nanostructured based devices (such as photonic-crystals, nanoplasmonics, and photonic crystal fibers) for the development of new approaches for biological sensing and imaging.