Naresh Emani

Naresh Emani

Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

Welcome to the Nanophotonics Lab at the Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad. Our research is at the intersection of photonics, semiconductor devices, and nanotechnology, with a focus on developing technologies for Optoelectronic Integration — bringing together optical components such as lasers, modulators, and photodetectors with high-speed electronic circuits. Our current work centres on Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs), targeting applications in high-speed optical communications and Quantum Key Distribution (QKD). We are also active in Silicon Photonics and nanophotonic device characterization.

The Principal Investigator, Dr. Naresh Kumar Emani, is a faculty member of the Department of Electrical Engineering at IIT Hyderabad. For more details, please see his current CV.

A note for prospective students I enjoy working with motivated students who are genuinely interested in our research. If you are looking for JRF, PhD, or Master’s thesis positions at IITH, please feel free to get in touch. Due to the nature of our work, I am unable to offer short-term, summer, or SURE internships, and I regret that I may not always be able to respond to such requests over email. I make an exception for students who have performed well in my NPTEL courses. Please see the Prospective Students section for more details.

Education

  • PhD in Electrical Engineering

    Purdue University

  • MTech in EE (Microelectronics)

    Indian Institute of Technology Bombay

  • BSc(Hons) and MSc in Physics

    Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher Learning

Experience

  • Associate Professor (Sep 2022 – present)

    Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

  • Assistant Professor (Jun 2017 – Sep 2022)

    Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad

  • Scientist (Dec 2014 – Jun 2017)

    Data Storage Institute, A*STAR, Singapore

  • Engineer (Aug 2007 – Aug 2009)

    Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Taiwan

Research

Current research directions in our group

Our research interest lies at the intersection of photonics, semiconductor devices, material science and nanotechnology. We are interested in applying developments in these disciplines to advance the frontiers of Nanophotonics and its applications. In the initial years, we studied Mie resonances in semiconductor nanostructures with gain and loss, and electrical excitation of plasmons in MIM tunnel junctions. Over time the research focus evolved towards development of electronic and photonic integrated circuits (EPICs).

We are currently working on technologies for Optoelectronic Integration, where optical components like Lasers, Modulators and Detectors can be closely integrated with electronic ICs. We recently completed a tape-out of a InP Photonic Integrated Circuits (PICs) with an external foundry. Key research areas are design of narrow linewidth lasers, high-speed modulators and detectors to enable transmitting and receiving data at multi-GHz speeds.

InP Chip

Figure: [Top] Optical images of the InP chip consisting of Lasers, Modulators and Detectors designed in our lab. [Bottom] Optical characterization data showing the LIV characteristics of Laser, Optical spectrum and response of a EAM modulator.

Teaching

MOOC / NPTEL Courses

Introduction to Semiconductor Devices Since 2021
Introduction to Semiconductor Devices

A foundational course covering the physics of semiconductor junctions, field-effect transistors, and bipolar devices — suitable for students of electrical engineering and physics.

24,527 enrolled  ·  3,464 registered for exam  ·  1,760 learners certified

YouTube Playlist Course Details
Fundamentals of Nano and Quantum Photonics Since 2022
Fundamentals of Nano and Quantum Photonics

Explores light–matter interaction at the nanoscale, photonic devices, and the principles of quantum optics — bridging classical and quantum perspectives on photonics.

3,779 enrolled  ·  298 registered for exam  ·  148 learners certified

YouTube Playlist Course Details Python Notebooks

Both courses are re-run annually on the NPTEL/Swayam platform. To enroll in an upcoming session, search on the NPTEL e-learning portal.

At IIT Hyderabad, I currently offer High Speed Interconnects and Semiconductor Optoelectronics as postgraduate courses. In the past I have also taught Introduction to Nanophotonics, Introduction to VLSI Design, VLSI Technology and Microfabrication, and Device Simulation Laboratory at the postgraduate level, and Semiconductor Fundamentals, Electronic Devices and Circuits, Physics of MOS Transistors, and Engineering Electromagnetics at the undergraduate level.

Members

Meet the team working in our lab

Current Members
Name Research Area
Dr. Janmeyjay Panda
Postdoc, Sep 2025 – present		 PIC characterization and QKD
Saptarshi Pathak
PhD (External), Aug 2021 – present		 GaAs-based THz Schottky Barrier Diodes
Ritu
PhD, Aug 2023 – present		 On-chip lasers on InP platform
Nandana P K
PhD, Jan 2024 – present		 Modulators and driver circuitry for on-chip devices
Roshan Marathe
PhD, Jan 2026 – present		 Integrated optoelectronic devices
Haraprasad Moharana
PhD, Jan 2026 – present		 Integrated optoelectronic devices
Kushagra Agarwal
MTech (RA), 2024 – present		 Design and characterization of PICs
Bipul Biswas
MTech (RA), 2024 – present		 Fabrication and characterization of Silicon Photonic devices
Anaswar Ramesh
MTech (RA), 2025 – present		 Electrical and optical characterization of PICs
Priangshu Dey
MTech (TA), 2025 – present		 Electrical drivers and PIC packaging
Harshit Ambati
MTech (TA), 2025 – present		 Nanophotonic device characterization
Harsha Vardhan Posa
Dual Degree, 2025 – present		 Design and analysis of PICs
Saurabh Suman
MSc Project (SVNIT), Jun 2025 – present		 Fabrication of MZI on TFLN platform
Name Current Affiliation
Jinal Tapar
2017 – 2021		 Seagate Technologies, UK
prev: University of Glasgow (Postdoc); A*STAR, Singapore (Scientist)
Saurabh Kishen
2017 – 2023		 TSMC, Hsinchu, Taiwan
Silicon Photonics Engineer
Vinod Sharma
2019 – 2026
Name Current Affiliation
Madhurima V
MTech, 2017 – 2019		 Qualcomm
Gaurav Yadav
MTech, 2018 – 2020		 TSMC
Sandeep G
MTech, 2019 – 2022		 Intel
Sahaan P
MTech, 2020 – 2022		 TSMC
Naresh U
MTech, 2020 – 2022		 Qualcomm
Sabanaaz
MTech, 2020 – 2022		 Qualcomm
Shivani Bhat
MTech, 2020 – 2022		 MediaTek
Sourabh Chouhan
MS, 2020 – 2023		 ChipSolve Technologies
Sourav Das
MTech, 2022 – 2024		 Qualcomm
Pavan Kumar Ramuni
MTech, 2023 – 2025		 Micron
Samant Sharma
MTech, 2023 – 2025		 Qualcomm
Likhita Priya Reddy
MTech, 2023 – 2025		 Texas Instruments
Pritam Xaxa
MTech, 2023 – 2025		 SanDisk
Nikhil Lingam
MTech, 2023 – 2026		 Qualcomm
Dikshant Jindal
MTech, 2024 – 2026		 Analog Devices
Vikas Chandrakar
MTech, 2024 – 2026		 Texas Instruments

Publications

List of major publications

Full text of manuscripts below can be shared upon request.

  1. Ritu Jangra, Kushagra Agarwal, Nandana P K, Posa Harsha Vardhan and Naresh Kumar Emani. Optimization of photonic waveguide bends for low index contrast material platforms. Under Review (2026). [arXiv]
  2. Saptarshi Pathak, Aluguri Rakesh, G Sai Saravanan, Shiv Govind Singh and Naresh Kumar Emani. Co-optimization of cut-off frequency and breakdown voltage of THz Schottky Barrier Diode by TCAD and EM simulations. Under Review (2026).
  3. Vinod Sharma, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Numerical modeling of graphene nanoribbons Salisbury screen on CaF2 substrate for near-unity mid-infrared absorption. IEEE Sensors Letters, 10, 2, pp. 1–4 (2026). [ doi ]
  4. Vinod Sharma, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Plasmon-enhanced infrared photodetection in planar graphene-insulator-graphene (GIG) tunnel junctions. Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, 65, 012003 (2026). [ doi ]
  5. Saurabh Kishen, Vinod Sharma, Jinal Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Electrically driven MIM tunnel junctions for polarized light generation. Optics Continuum, 4, 11, (2025). [ doi ]
  6. Vinod Sharma, Jinal Tapar, Oves Badami and Naresh Kumar Emani. Numerical Modeling and Analysis of Photoresponse in Graphene-based PIN Junction Devices. IEEE Transactions on Nanotechnology, 24, 504, (2025). [ doi ]
  7. Saptarshi Pathak, Aluguri Rakesh, G Sai Saravanan, Shiv Govind Singh and Naresh Kumar Emani. Accurate Leakage Current Modeling of THz Schottky Barrier Diodes Using a Bias-Dependent Junction Resistor. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 72, 7, (2025). [ doi ]
  1. Saurabh Kishen, Jinal Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Tunable directional emission from electrically driven nano-strip metal-insulator-metal tunnel junctions. Nanoscale Advances, 4, 17, (2022). [ doi ]
  2. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Generalized kerker effect in PT-symmetric nanoantenna array. Journal of Optics, 24, 3, (2022). [ doi ]
  3. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Dynamically Tunable Asymmetric Transmission in PT-Symmetric Phase Gradient Metasurface. ACS Photonics (2021). [ doi ]
  4. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen and Naresh Kumar Emani. Spectral singularities and asymmetric light scattering in PT-symmetric 2D nanoantenna arrays. Optics Letters, 45, 18, pp. 5185-5188 (2020). [ doi ]
  5. Saurabh Kishen, Jinal Kiran Tapar and Naresh Kumar Emani. Enhanced light emission from gap plasmons in nano-strip MIM tunnel junctions. Journal of Optics, 22, 095006 (2020). [ doi ]
  6. Jinal Kiran Tapar, Saurabh Kishen, Kumar Prashant, Kaushik Nayak and Naresh Kumar Emani. Enhancement of the optical gain in GaAs nanocylinders for nanophotonic applications. Journal of Applied Physics, 127, 153102 (2020). [  doi ]
  1. Song Tung Ha #, Y H Fu #, Naresh Kumar Emani #, Pan Zhenying, Reuben M Bakker, Ramom Paniagua-Dominguez, and Arseniy I. Kuznetsov. Directional lasing in resonant semiconductor nanoantenna arrays Nature Nanotechnology, 13, 1042–1047 (2018). [ pdf ] # Equal author Contribution
  2. Naresh Kumar Emani, Egor Khaidarov, Ramom Paniagua-Dominguez, Yuan Hsing Fu, Vytautas Valuckas, Shunpeng Lu, Xueliang Zhang, Swee-Tiam Tan, Hilmi Volkan Demir and Arseniy I. Kuznetsov. High-efficiency and low-loss gallium nitride dielectric metasurfaces for nanophotonics at visible wavelengths. Applied Physics Letters, 111(22), 221101 (2017). [ pdf ]
  1. Rohith Chandrasekar, Naresh Kumar Emani, Alexei Lagutchev, Vladimir M Shalaev, Cristian Ciracì, David R Smith, and Alexander V Kildishev. Second harmonic generation with plasmonic metasurfaces: direct comparison of electric and magnetic resonances. Optical Materials Express, 5(11):2682-2691, 2015. [ pdf ]
  2. Naresh Kumar Emani, Di Wang, Ting-Fung Chung, Ludmila J Prokopeva, Alexander V Kildishev, Vladimir M Shalaev, Yong P Chen, and Alexandra Boltasseva. Plasmon resonance in multilayer graphene nanoribbons. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 9, 2015. [ pdf ] Highlighted on the cover of November 2015 issue
  3. Naresh Kumar Emani, Alexander V Kildishev, Vladimir M Shalaev, and Alexandra Boltasseva. Graphene: A dynamic platform for electrical control of plasmonic resonance. Nanophotonics, 4(1), 2015. [ pdf ]
  4. Carl Pfeiffer, Naresh Kumar Emani, Amr M Shaltout, Alexandra Boltasseva, Vladimir M Shalaev, and Anthony Grbic. Efficient light bending with isotropic metamaterial huygens surfaces. Nano Letters, 14(5):2491-2497, 2014. [ pdf ]
  5. Naresh Kumar Emani, Ting-Fung Chung, Alexander V Kildishev, Vladimir M Shalaev, Yong P Chen, and Alexandra Boltasseva. Electrical modulation of fano resonance in plasmonic nanostructures using graphene. Nano Letters, 14(1):78-82, 2013. [ pdf ]
  6. Jongbum Kim, Gururaj V Naik, Naresh Kumar Emani, Urcan Guler, and Alexandra Boltasseva. Plasmonic resonances in nanostructured transparent conducting oxide films. IEEE Journal of Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, 19(3):4601907-4601907, 2013. [ pdf ]
  7. Naresh Kumar Emani, Ting-Fung Chung, Xingjie Ni, Alexander V Kildishev, Yong P Chen, and Alexandra Boltasseva. Electrically tunable damping of plasmonic resonances with graphene. Nano Letters, 12(10):5202-5206, 2012. [ pdf ]
  8. Xingjie Ni, Naresh Kumar Emani, Alexander V Kildishev, Alexandra Boltasseva, and Vladimir M Shalaev. Broadband light bending with plasmonic nanoantennas. Science, 335(6067):427-427, 2012. [ pdf ]
  9. P.R. West, S. Ishii, G.V. Naik, N. K. Emani, V.M. Shalaev, and A. Boltasseva. Searching for better plasmonic materials. Laser & Photonics Reviews, 4(6):795-808, 2010. [ pdf ]
  1. Vrajesh D Maheta, Emani Naresh Kumar, Shweta Purawat, Christopher Olsen, Khaled Ahmed, and Souvik Mahapatra. Development of an ultrafast on-the-fly I_DLIN technique to study NBTI in plasma and thermal oxynitride p-MOSFETs. IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices, 55(10):2614-2622, 2008. [ pdf ]

Prospective Students

We are always on the lookout for motivated students and researchers interested in joining our group for PhD, JRF, Postdoctoral, or project/thesis work. If you think you are a good fit, please consider the following before reaching out:

  • Think about your goals — Job, PhD, Post-doc, research exposure, etc. A clear sense of purpose goes a long way.
  • Go through the research and publications sections carefully. You may not understand all the details, but it will give you a sense of the type of work we do.
  • Einstein once said “It’s not that I’m so smart; it’s just that I stay with problems longer.” You would be expected to work hard on your research topics, scientific communication, and also contribute to the lab.
  • Talk to our current group members to understand the work environment and see if it is a good fit for you.
  • Prepare a brief email stating your background, research/project experience, and why you are interested in our work. A well-crafted email will improve your chances of getting a response.
  • Once you have done the above, please email me to schedule an appointment to discuss potential openings.
Letters of recommendation

Letters of recommendation are an integral part of an academic career. I will be happy to write letters of recommendation if you meet the following criteria:

  1. You have worked on a significant research project with me as an advisor or co-advisor or doctoral committee member (for graduate students)
  2. You have taken at least 2 courses that I offer at IIT Hyderabad, and have been an active participant in class discussions (for BTech students)
  3. And more importantly, you have discussed your plans with me well ahead of the deadline - at least 1 month for BTech students and 1 semester for graduate students
  4. If you do not meet the above criteria then the most probable scenario is that I would write a generic letter. This will not help your chances, and you might be better off approaching someone who can give you a strong recommendation
YouTube Videos on Scientific Presentations

Communicating science is an essential part of a scientific career. Everyone is busy in their lives and would not pay attention to your work unless you make an effort to communicate it clearly. Here are some resources to get you started.

  1. Designing Effective Scientific Presentations by Prof. Susan McConnell
  2. Creating effective slides: Design, Construction, and Use in Science - Dr. Jean-luc Doumont
Facets of Academic and Research Life
  1. You and Your Research - A talk by R W Hamming on what leads to great research
  2. Graduate School Survival Guide - An essay on navigating graduate school by Ronald Azuma. The essay is written from CS grad student perspective, but most of the contents are applicable to other disciplines as well.
  3. Recollections of the Schon Scandal by Prof. Doug Natelson of Rice University. This story reemphasizes the need for careful checking and rechecking of research work by every researcher especially in the current frantic race to publish in ‘glossy journals’. Good quality work is hard and time consuming!