Yoel Fink

Background and Experience

Yoel Fink is both a new and old face at MIT—appointed to an assistant professorship in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering (DMSE) soon after completing his Ph.D. (thesis under Professors John Joannopoulos and Edwin Thomas, and Dr. Chiping Chen) in Materials Science at MIT, as well as a postdoctoral appointment in the Department of Physics here. Currently, Fink is a professor of Material Sciences and Engineering.

His PhD research has examined the theory and synthesis of block copolymer self-assembled photonic band gap materials, as well as the theory and synthesis of dielectric omnidirectional reflectors (the “perfect mirror”). His work generated some eighteen patent applications and dozens of publications. Prior to joining the MIT community, Fink attended the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) and received his B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering in 1994, followed by a B.A. in Physics in 1995. While there, he received the Hershel Rich Technion Innovation Award (1994) for development of a flow-through controlled-environment vitrification system. Fink is also a co-founder and past member of the board of OmniGuide Inc., a startup company which developed out of his Ph.D. work. Since joining the MIT DMSE faculty, Fink has established the ‘fibers@mit’ group (previously named the Photonic Bandgap Fibers and Devices group) where vertically integrated research has focused on basic optical material synthesis, novel bandgap structures development, low cost processing, optical characterization and simulation and theory. The lab includes unique facilities such as a custom designed 5.4meter bandgap fiber draw tower, synthesis lines for anionic block copolymers and high index glasses an ultra-broad band spectroscopic ellipsometer and an optical measurement setup.