Aaswath Raman

At the Raman lab, we seek to understand how light and heat interact with metamaterials and nanoscale optical structures and devices, with the goal of enabling new technologies. In particular, we are motivated by the possibility of enabling fundamentally new approaches to renewable energy, information processing, sensing, displays and communication systems. Our research interests span a range of topics, including nanophotonics, thermal photonics, non-Hermitian and non-reciprocal optical systems, radiative cooling, energy systems, and explainable machine learning. In the recent past, a highlight of our work has been in investigating a mechanism known as radiative cooling. We have shown that using nanophotonic and metamaterials approaches one can harness a ubiquitous and renewable source of energy that remains largely unexploited: the cold of the universe. Our lab is a global pioneer and leader in this technology and its applications to a range of energy systems, from the nanoscale to the building-scale Our group typically recruits students with backgrounds in Optics & Photonics, Physics, Electrical Engineering, Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and related fields. Students may send their CV and a short statement of interest to aaswath@ucla.edu. Area of Thesis Guidance: Metamaterials, Optical and Photonic Materials, Nanophotonics, Plasmonics, Thermal Sciences, Energy Systems, Computational Methods

1. David E. Abraham, Robert Yang, Jyotirmoy Mandal, Mackensie Yore, Xin Huang, V. Kelly Turner, Walker Wells, Kirsten Schwarz, David P. Eisenman and Aaswath P. Raman, “Efficient outdoor thermal comfort via radiant cooling and infrared-reflective walls” Nature Sustainability 8, 642-650 (2025). 2. Jae S. Hwang, Jin Xu and Aaswath P. Raman, “Thermally Tunable Angular Selectivity of Broadband Directional Thermal Emission” Nano Letters 25 (19), 8064-8071 (2025). 3. Komron Shayegan*, Jae S. Hwang*, Bo Zhao, Aaswath P. Raman and Harry A. Atwater, “Broadband nonreciprocal thermal emissivity and absorptivity” Light: Science & Applications 13, 176 (2024). 4. Jyotirmoy Mandal, Sagar Mandal, John Brewer, Arvind Ramachandran and Aaswath P. Raman, “Radiative cooling and thermoregulation in the earth’s g