Assistant Professor
rkuatede@syr.edu
Areas of Expertise:
- Quantum theory of solids
- Computational electronic structure methods
- Point defects in semiconductors
- Inverse design for large-scale photonic optimization
Kuate Defo’s research is focused on the theory underpinning the design of efficient devices for classical and quantum sensing, communication, and computation. His research achieves these aims through the development of ab-initio approaches to predict solid-state material properties; the determination of fundamental limits and efficient topology-optimization procedures to enhance light-matter interactions in nanophotonic devices; and the discovery and characterization of materials. He is particularly interested in the charge-state stability of point defects in wide band gap semiconductors for quantum sensing applications and in the dynamical process by which equilibrium of the Fermi level occurs in semiconductors. His program for research in nanophotonics uses computational and theoretical techniques to explore nanostructuring as a means of engineering materials with desirable figures of merit including large photonic bandgaps or significant Purcell enhancement.
Honors and Awards:
- Editors’ Suggestion, Physical Review B, 2023
- US National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine’s Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship, Oct. 2022 – 2023
- Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Princeton University, Sept. 2020 – Aug. 2022 (deferred to Jan. 2021 – Dec. 2022)
- Commencement Marshal, Harvard University, May 2020
- Institute for Applied Computational Science Student Scholarship, Harvard University, Sept. 2017 – Aug. 2018
- Physics Graduate Prize Fellowship, Harvard University, Sept. 2014 – Aug. 2016
Selected Publications:
A. Bahulikar, F. Wang, M. C. Gursoy, and R. Kuate Defo. “Solving the Inverse Band-Structure Problem for Photonic Crystals,” arXiv:2411.09165 [physics.optics]
R. Kuate Defo and S. L. Richardson, “Investigating the initialization and readout of relative populations of NV– and NV0 defects in diamond,” J. Appl. Phys. 135, 245702 (2024).
R. Kuate Defo, A. W. Rodriguez, and S. L. Richardson. “Charge-State Stability of Color Centers in Wide-Bandgap Semiconductors,” Phys. Rev. B 108, 235208 (2023).
R. Kuate Defo, A. W. Rodriguez, E. Kaxiras, S. L. Richardson, “Theoretical Investigation of Charge Transfer Between Two Defects in a Wide Band Gap Semiconductor,” Phys. Rev. B 107, 125305, (2023).
P. Chao, R. Kuate Defo, S. Molesky and A. W. Rodriguez, “Maximum Electromagnetic Local Density of States via Material Structuring,” Nanophotonics 12(3), 549–557 (2022).
R. Kuate Defo, X. Zhang, S. L. Richardson, and E. Kaxiras, “Theoretical Investigation of Charge Transfer between the NV− Center in Diamond and Substitutional N and P,” J. Appl. Phys. 130, 155102 (2021).
R. Kuate Defo, E. Kaxiras, and S. L. Richardson, “Calculating the Hyperfine Tensors for Group-IV Impurity-Vacancy Centers in Diamond Using Hybrid Density Functional Theory,” Phys. Rev. B 104, 075158, (2021).
R. Kuate Defo, H. Nguyen, M. J. H. Ku, and T. D. Rhone, “Methods to Accelerate High-Throughput Screening of Atomic Qubit Candidates in van der Waals Materials,” J. Appl. Phys. 129, 225105 (2021).