Eli Estrecho

I am a senior lecturer in physics at the School of Science at UNSW Canberra. My research explores the frontier of light-matter interaction by studying exciton-polaritons—hybrid quasiparticles that allow us light to interact with each other like normal massive particles. Over the last decade, I have investigated exotic phenomena arising from these particles, such as Bose-Einstein condensation at high temperatures, superfluidity, laser-like behaviour, and emergent non-Hermitian physics. At UNSW Canberra, my research focus is on probing the quantum statistical nature of these hybrid particles for deterministic quantum light generation. Prior to joining UNSW Canberra in mid-2026, I was an ARC DECRA Fellow (2022-2025) and a Postdoctoral Fellow of the ARC Centre of Excellence in Future Low-Energy Electronics Technologies (FLEET) at the Australian National University. I received my PhD from the Australian National University in 2018, building upon my earlier undergraduate and master's studies in the Philippines. Scholarships of AUD$38,500 are available for PhD students who achieved H1/High Distinction in their undergraduate program and/or have completed a Masters by Research. If you are interested, please contact me at e.estrecho AT unsw.edu.au. My research explores the frontier of light-matter interaction through exciton-polaritons—hybrid quasiparticles that allow us to make light behave like a fluid. Over the last decade, I have investigated exotic phenomena arising from these particles, such as Bose-Einstein condensation at high temperatures and emergent non-Hermitian physics. A significant portion of my work involves probing and manipulating the properties of exciton polaritons in different semiconductors such as GaAs-based heterostructures, 2D materials, and perovskites, and different photonic structures such as microcavities and photonic crystals. Currently, I am focused on the quantum regime of polaritonics. By harnessing the strong nonlinearities inherent in the matter component of these particles, my research seeks to demonstrate quantum behaviour and highly non-classical states of light relevant for optical quantum technologies.