Biography
Demetri Christodoulides is the Steven and Kathryn Sample Chair in Engineering, and Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of Southern California. Prior to joining USC in 2022, Dr. Christodoulides was the Cobb Family Endowed Chair and Pegasus Professor of Optics at CREOL, The College of Optics and Photonics at the University of Central Florida for 20 years. He received his Ph.D. degree from Johns Hopkins University in 1986 and he subsequently joined Bellcore as a post-doctoral fellow at Murray Hill. Between 1988 and 2002 he was with the faculty of the Department of Electrical Engineering at Lehigh University. His research interests include linear and nonlinear optical beam interactions, synthetic optical materials, optical solitons, and quantum electronics. He has authored and co-authored more than 450 papers. He is a Fellow of the Optical Society of America and the American Physical Society. In 2011 he received the R.W. Wood Prize of OSA and in 2018 the OSA Max Born Award.
Awards & Honors
- OSA Max Born Award 2018
- OSA R.W. Wood Prize, 2011
- Fellow, OSA, APS
- Cobb Family Endowed Chair Professor
- UCF Pegasus Professor
- ISI Highly Cited Researcher
Professional Activities
- QELS General Chair, Program Chair
- OSA NLO Program Chair
- OSA Ives & Wood Prize Committee
Research Group
Nonlinear wave propagation, beam synthesis and dynamics, optical thermodynamics, optical solitons, periodic and random optical structures, nonlinear optics in soft matter, quantum transport in arrays and photonic lattices.Scientists
Students
Publications
Alumni
PhD
Mahmoud Abdel Rahman, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2021Arielle Adams, Optics M.S., Summer 2020
Helena Lopez, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2020
Fan Wu, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2020
Midya Parto, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2019
Nicholas Nye, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2019
Helena Lopez, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2018
Absar Ulhassan, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2018
Fan Wu, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2018
Mohammad Amin Eftekhar, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2018
Nicholas Nye, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2017
Mohammad Amin Eftekhar, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2016
Ahmed El Halawany, Physics Ph.D., Fall 2016
Midya Parto, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2016
Parinaz Aleahmad, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2016
Matthew Mills, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2015
Matthew Mills, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2015
Absar Ulhassan, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2015
Mohammad-Ali Miri, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2014
Shima Fardad, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2014
Parinaz Aleahmad, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2013
Mohammad-Ali Miri, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2013
Toni Eichelkraut, Optics M.S., Fall 2011
Alessandro Salandrino, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2011
Alessandro Salandrino, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2010
Georgios Siviloglou, Optics Ph.D., Summer 2010
Ramy El-Ganainy, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2009
Konstantinos Makris, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2008
Ramy El-Ganainy, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2007
Konstantinos Makris, Optics Ph.D., Fall 2006
Jared Hudock, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2005
Georgios Siviloglou, Optics Ph.D., Spring 2004
MS
Ren, HZ (Ren, Huizhong) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] ; Zhong, Q (Zhong, Qi) [2] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] , [4] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] , [3] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] , [3] "Photon-photon chemical thermodynamics of frequency conversion processes in highly multimode systems" Light-Science & Applications, Volume: 14, Issue: 1, Year: 2025 (2025)
Selim, MA (Selim, Mahmoud A.) [1] ; Ehrhardt, M (Ehrhardt, Max) [2] ; Ding, YQ (Ding, Yuqiang) [3] ; Dinani, HM (Dinani, Hediyeh M.) [1] ; Zhong, Q (Zhong, Qi) [3] , [4] , [5] ; Perez-Leija, A (Perez-Leija, Armando) [3] ; Özdemir, SK (Ozdemir, Sahin K.) [4] , [5] ; Heinrich, M (Heinrich, Matthias) [2] ; Szameit, A (Szameit, Alexander) [2] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] , [6] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] , [6] "Selective filtering of photonic quantum entanglement via anti-parity-time symmetry" Science, Volume: 387 Issue: 6741 Page: 1424-1428 (2025)
Kirsch, MS (Kirsch, Marco S.) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [2] ; Altenkirch, R (Altenkirch, Richard) [1] ; Selim, MA (A. Selim, Mahmoud) [2] ; Beck, J (Beck, Julius) [1] ; Wolterink, TAW (Wolterink, Tom A. W.) [1] ; Ren, HZ (Ren, Huizhong) [2] ; Jung, PS (Jung, Pawel S.) [3] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [2] ; Szameit, A (Szameit, Alexander) [1] ; Heinrich, M (Heinrich, Matthias) [1] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [2] "Observation of Joule-Thomson photon-gas expansion" Nature Physics, Volume: 21 Issue: 2 (2025)
Su, XZ (Su, Xinzhou); Zou, KH (Zou, Kaiheng); Wang, YN (Wang, Yingning); Yessenov, M (Yessenov, Murat); Zhou, HB (Zhou, Huibin); Song, H (Song, Hao); Ko, W (Ko, Wing); Zeng, RY (Zeng, Ruoyu); Alhaddad, A (Alhaddad, Abdulrahman); Ramakrishnan, M (Ramakrishnan, Murale); Duan, YX (Duan, Yuxiang); Abouraddy, AF (Abouraddy, Ayman F.); Tur, M (Tur, Moshe); Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.); Willner, AE (Willner, Alan E.) "Space-time wave packets in multimode optical fibers with controlled dynamic motions and tunable group velocities" Nature Communications, Volume: 16 Issue: 1 Article Number 2027 (2025)
Guangye Yang, Fan O. Wu, Helena Lopez-Aviles, Daniel Cruz-Delgado, Rodrigo Amezcua-Correa, Demetrios N. Christodoulides "Manipulation of geometric parametric sidebands via elliptical Gaussian beam in graded-index multimode fibers" Chaos, Solitons & Fractals”, Volume 183, 2024 (2024)
Ferraro, M (Ferraro, M.) [1] ; Mangini, F (Mangini, F.) [1] ; Wu, FO (Wu, F. O.) [2] ; Zitelli, M (Zitelli, M.) [1] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, D. N.) [2] ; Wabnitz, S (Wabnitz, S.) [1] , [3] "Calorimetry of Photon Gases in Nonlinear Multimode Optical Fibers " Physical Review X, Volume: 14, Issue: 2, Year: 2024 (2024)
Ren, HZ (Ren, Huizhong) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios g.) [1] , [2] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan o.) [2] ; Efremidis, NK (Efremidis, Nikolaos k.) [3] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] , [4] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios n.) [1] , [4] "Dalton's law of partial optical thermodynamic pressures in highly multimoded nonlinear photonic systems" Optics Letters 49(7) pp.1802-1805 (2024)
Shu, XQ (Shu, Xiaoqian) [1] , [2] , [3] ; Zhong, Q (Zhong, Qi) [4] ; Hong, K (Hong, Kai) [1] , [2] ; You, OB (You, Oubo) [5] ; Wang, J (Wang, Jian) [1] , [2] ; Hu, GW (Hu, Guangwei) [6] ; Alu, A (Alu, Andrea) [7] ; Zhang, S (Zhang, Shuang) [5] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [4] ; Chen, L (Chen, Lin) [1] , [2] , [8] "Chiral transmission by an open evolution trajectory in a non-Hermitian system" Light-science & Applications 13(1) (2024)
Luo, HK (Luo, Haokun) [1] ; Wei, YX (Wei, Yunxuan) [1] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] , [3] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] , [2] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] , [4] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] , [4] "Guiding Trojan light beams via Lagrange points" Nature Physics 20(1) (2024)
Cruz-Delgado, D (Cruz-Delgado, Daniel) [1] ; Perez-Leija, A (Perez-Leija, Armando) [1] ; Fontaine, NK (Fontaine, Nicolas K.) [2] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [3] ; Bandres, MA (Bandres, Miguel A.) [1] ; Amezcua-Correa, R (Amezcua-Correa, Rodrigo) [1] "Ptychography for Multidimensional Characterization of Spatiotemporal Ultrafast Pulses" ACS Photonics 11(1) pp.18-23 (2024)
Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] , [2] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] ; Jung, PS (Jung, Pawel S.) [2] ; Ren, HZ (Ren, Huizhong) [1] ; Makris, KG (Makris, Konstantinos G.) [3] ; Musslimani, ZH (Musslimani, Ziad H.) [4] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] ; Kottos, T (Kottos, Tsampikos) [5] ; Christodoulides, D (Christodoulides, Demetrios) [1] "Slowdown of thermalization and the emergence of prethermal dynamics in disordered optical lattices" Physical Review Research 6(1) (2024)
Ren, HZ (Ren, Huizhong) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] , [2] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] ; Jung, PS (Jung, Pawel S.) [2] , [3] ; Efremidis, NK (Efremidis, Nikolaos K.) [4] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] "Nature of Optical Thermodynamic Pressure Exerted in Highly Multimoded Nonlinear Systems" Physical Review Letters 131(19) (2023)
Shen, YJ; Zhan, QW; Wright, LG; Christodoulides, DN; Wise, Frank W.; Willner, AE; Zou, KH; Zhao, Z; Porras, MA; Chong, Andy; Wan, CH; Bliokh, KY; Liao, CT; Hernandez-Garcia, C; Murnane, M; Yessenov, M; Abouraddy, AF; Wong, LJ; Go, M; Kumar, S; Guo, C; Fan SH; Papasimakis, Nikitas; Zheludev, N; Chen, L; Zhu, WQ; Agrawal, A; Mounaix, M; Fontaine, N; Capasso, F; "Roadmap on spatiotemporal light fields" Journal of Optics 25(9) (2023)
Ramos, AY (Ramos, Alba Y.) [1] , [2] , [3] ; Shi, C (Shi, Cheng) [1] ; Fernandez-Alcazar, LJ (Fernandez-Alcazar, Lucas J.) [2] , [3] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [4] ; Kottos, T "Theory of localization-hindered thermalization in nonlinear multimode photonics" Communications Physics (2023)
Liu, MQ (Liu, Mengqi) [1] , [2] ; Chen, WJ (Chen, Weijin) [2] ; Hu, GW (Hu, Guangwei) [3] ; Fan, SH (Fan, Shanhui) [3] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [4] ; Zhao, CY (Zhao, Changying) [1] ; Qiu, CW (Qiu, Cheng-Wei) [2] "Spectral phase singularity and topological behavior in perfect absorption" Physical Review B 107(24) (2023)
Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] ; Apostolidis, A (Apostolidis, Anestis) [2] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [3] ; Kantartzis, NV (Kantartzis, Nikolaos, V) [2] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [3] "Antichiral topological phases and protected bulk transport in dual-helix Floquet lattices" Physical Review B 107(17) (2023)
Nasari, H (Nasari, Hadiseh) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [2] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] , [3] "Non-Hermitian topological photonics" Optical Materials Express 13(4)pp.870-885 (2023)
Jung, PS (Jung, Pawel S.) [1] , [2] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [1] ; Pilka, J (Pilka, Jacek) [2] ; Kwasny, M (Kwasny, Michal) [2] ; Laudyn, U (Laudyn, Ula) [2] ; Trippenbach, M (Trippenbach, Marek) [3] ; Christodoulides, DN (Christodoulides, Demetrios N.) [1] ; Krolikowski, W (Krolikowski, Wieslaw) [4] , [5] "Stable fundamental two-dimensional solitons in media with competing nonlocal interactions" Chaos Solitons & Fractals 171 (2023)
Selim, MA (Selim, Mahmoud A.) [1] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [2] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] ; Musslimani, Z (Musslimani, Ziad) [3] ; Makris, KG (Makris, Konstantinos G.) [4] , [5] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] ; Chiristdoulides, D (Chiristdoulides, Demetrios) [1] "Thermalization of the Ablowitz-Ladik lattice in the presence of non-integrable perturbations" Optics Letter 48(8) pp.2206-2209 (2023)
Selim, MA (Selim, Mahmoud A.) [1] ; Wu, FO (Wu, Fan O.) [2] ; Pyrialakos, GG (Pyrialakos, Georgios G.) [2] ; Khajavikhan, M (Khajavikhan, Mercedeh) [1] ; Christodoulides, D (Christodoulides, Demetrios) [1] "Coherence properties of light in highly multimoded nonlinear parabolic fibers under optical equilibrium conditions" Optics Letters, 48(5) 1208-1211 (2023)