Maxim Shcherbakov

Dr. Maxim Shcherbakov is an assistant professor at UCI Beckman Laser Institute & Medical Clinic and in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department at the UCI Henry Samueli School of Engineering. Dr. Shcherbakov is an optical physicist who works with a special class of artificial materials, known as semiconductor metamaterials, that manipulate light.

In his research, Dr. Shcherbakov merges fundamental physics concepts and cutting-edge nanotechnology to innovate in the area of photonic devices. Designer nanomaterials offer unprecedented flexibility to manipulate light waves on demand. His group uses a plethora of theoretical and experimental methods to conceive next-generation light-based components to find use in imagers, AR/VR technology, telecommunications and quantum computing.

Dr. Shcherbakov has used common semiconductor materials, like silicon and germanium, to engineer metamaterials that display new optical properties. With discoveries including the first experimental observation of photon acceleration that changes the frequency of light, Dr. Shcherbakov’s research will impact technologies from telecommunications to quantum computing.

Dr. Shcherbakov was a postdoctoral associate with the School of Applied and Engineering Physics at Cornell University from 2016 to 2021. He received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Physics from Lomonosov Moscow State University, Russia. As a deputy group leader at Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, his research was focused on wearable electronics, remote sensing and LiDARs. He is an author of more than 50 research papers and book chapters and is the recipient of awards in photonics, telecommunications and nanotechnology.