Dr Daniel Ho

Associate Professor

Department: Mathematics, Physics and Electrical Engineering

Daniel is an Associate Professor (Reader) of Nanophotonics and Electrical Engineering, joined Northumbria University in 2019. His academic journey began with a BSc in Electrical Engineering from the National Taipei University of Technology in Taiwan. Later, he pursued his PhD in Quantum Optics at the University of Bristol. Prior to joining the Mathematics, Physics, and Electrical Engineering department at Northumbria, he served as a Research Fellow at the University of Bristol. During this time, he also played a key role as the Co-Investigator in two EPSRC Research projects: EP/M009033/1 and EP/P034446/1.
His research group, the Nanophotonic Engineering Laboratory, focuses on several exciting areas including artificially structured materials, opto-electrical & material characteristics, scattering reflectance measurements using Fourier imaging spectroscopy (FIS), and micro/nano-fabrication approaches (FIB, DLW-2PP, ELB, CVD, and ALD, etc.). These research efforts pave the way for applications in nanophotonics, optoelectronics, energy storage, medical devices, and quantum technologies. His current research projects are generously supported by funding 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials (EPSRC New Investigator Award - EP/V040030/1), Additive Micro/Nano-Manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring (EPSRC ECR international collaboration grant - EP/Y003551/1), and Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces for Selective Absorbers (EPSRC joint project with the University of Surrey and University of Bristol - EP/Y016440/1). He is also a Visiting Academic in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Bristol.

Email Daniel

Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

Daniel's research is concerned with both the theory and application of artificially structured electromagnetic materials for photonic engineering, quantum technologies, and medical & energy applications.

Nanophotonics & Quantum Optics:
Nano/Micro-Structured Materials for Energy Applications:
- Solar-thermal absorbers
- 3D Architectured Hybrid Materials for Electrodes and Catalysts
Nano/Micro-Structured Materials for Medical Applications:
- Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing

Current project grants:

Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces For Selective Absorbers (EP/Y016440/1, Co-PI) – EPSRC – £1,384,021.25 (FEC 100%) – 04/09/2024 to 03/09/2027.
Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring (EP/Y003551/1, PI) – £161,161.25 (FEC 100%) – 01/04/2024 to 31/03/2026.

Past project grants:

3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials (EP/V040030/1, PI) – EPSRC New Investigator Award – £474,704 (FEC 100%), 01/09/2021 to 31/08/2024.
Additive Nano-Manufacturing of Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing (Co-PI) – 2022 Academia Sinica Catalyst Award – US$100,000, 01/09/2022 to 31/08/2024.
Exploring Topology-optimised Metasurface Architectures for Solar-thermal Absorption (RGS\R1\221031, PI) – Royal Society – £19,954 – 21/03/2022 to 30/06/2023.
Linguistics Course (Co-I) – Regional Center and Nancy Territorial Center, Epinal – £30,000 – 1/03/20 to 30/04/20.
Chalcogenide Direct Write 3D Nanophononics (Co-I) – EPSRC Manufacturing Advanced Functional Materials Programme, ChAMP and WAFT Collaboration Fund – £4,200 – 15/05/2018 to 30/09/2018.
Structural integrity characterisation of nuclear materials via nano additive manufacturing (EP/P034446/1, Co-I) – £252183.75 (FEC 100%), 20/03/2017 to 19/09/2019.
Novel liquid crystal infiltrated microstructures and their applications (Co-I) – Royal Society, MOST-RS International Exchange Scheme 2017 – £11,700 – 01/03/2017 to 28/02/2019.
All dielectric surface wave devices for light generation with 2D material (Co-I) EPSRC Future Photonics Hub, Innovation Partnership Fund – £62,265 – 01/02/2017 to 31/01/2018.
Chalcogenide Photonic Technologies (EP/M009033/1, Researcher Co-I) – £699,375 (FEC 100%) – 01/05/2015 to 30/04/2018.

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Conformal CVD-grown MoS2 on Three-dimensional Woodpile Photonic Crystals for Photonic Bandgap Engineering, Taverne, M., Zheng, X., Chen, Y., Morgan, K., Chen, L., Meethale Palakkool, N., Rezaie, D., Awachi, H., Rarity, J., Hewak, D., Huang, C., Ho, Y. 26 May 2023, In: ACS Applied Optical Materials
Observation of Complete Photonic Bandgap in Low Refractive Index Contrast Inverse Rod-Connected Diamond Structured Chalcogenides, Chen, L., Morgan, K., Alzaidy, G., Huang, C., Ho, Y., Taverne, M., Zheng, X., Ren, Z., Feng, Z., Zeimpekis, I., Hewak, D., Rarity, J. 15 May 2019, In: ACS Photonics
Indirect optical trapping using light driven micro-rotors for reconfigurable hydrodynamic manipulation, Būtaitė, U., Gibson, G., Ho, Y., Taverne, M., Taylor, J., Phillips , D. 14 Mar 2019, In: Nature Communications
Orbital angular momentum vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers, Li, H., Phillips , D., Wang, X., Ho, Y., Chen, L., Zhou, ., Zhu, J., Yu, S., Cai, X. 20 Jun 2015, In: Optica
Shape-induced force fields in optical trapping, Phillips , D., Padgett, M., Hanna, S., Ho, ., Carberry, D., Miles, M., Simpson, S. May 2014, In: Nature Photonics

Current and Recent Projects

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Topology-optimised metasurface architectures for solar-thermal absorption, Ho, D. (Principal Investigator), The Royal Society, 21/03/22 - 20/03/23, 0.00
3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials, Ho, D. (Principal Investigator), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, 01/09/21 - 31/08/24, £474,704.00
Lingusitics Course, Busawon, K. (Principal Investigator), Ho, D. (Co Investigator), Regional Center and Nancy Territorial Center | Epinal, 01/03/20 - 30/04/20, 0.00

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Oral presentation: Fabrication of Novel 3D Structured Electrode for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation Applications using Additive Manufacturing 2023
Other: Additive Nano-Manufacturing of Multi-Functional Materials for Smart Stents Sensing - PI: Dr. Yu-Sheng Lin (Southern Taiwan University of Science and Technology); Co-PIs: Dr. Daniel Ho (Northumbria University), Dr. Kevin Chung-Che Huang (University of Southampton), Dr. Shuangyi Yan (University of Bristol), and Dr. Chen-Hsun Weng (National Cheng Kung University), funded by the Academia Sinica of Taiwan & U.S. National Academy of Medicine (2022 Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge Competition), value (US$): 100,000, 01/09/2022 – 31/08/2024. 2022

PGR Supervision

Nadira Meethale Palakkool Design Strategies of Solid-State Electrochemical Devices based on Precious Metal-Free 3D Electrodes Start Date: 01/03/2022
Owen Bell Engineering Hyperuniform Disordered Architectures for Enhanced Thermal Absorption Start Date: 01/10/2024

Further Information

Accepting PhD Students to join the Nanophotonic Engineering Laboratory (NEL)

If you are an exceptional candidate with an interest in the following topics, please contact: daniel.ho@northumbria.ac.uk or mike.taverne@northumbria.ac.uk

Three-dimensional Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Materials.
Artificially Nano-structured Materials for Three-dimensional Electrodes and Catalysts.
Scalable Two-dimensional Layered Materials for Efficient Quantum Photon Sources.
Topology-optimised Metasurface Architectures for Solar-Thermal Absorption.
Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring.
Micro-Nanostructure-Stabilized Liquid-Crystalline Blue-Phase.

Latest News

01-10-2024 NEL welcomes its new PhD student: Mr. Owen Bell.
11-04-2024 Our EPSRC joint project (EP/Y016440/1) "Hyperuniform Disordered Metasurfaces for Selective Absorbers" has just been granted! A news item is released - Project to boost solar energy capture awarded £1.1 million.
12-02-2024 Check out our collaboration with Dr Jonathan Mar from Newcastle University to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, which is now available to the public! X(Twitter), LinkedIn, facebook, Threads, and Instagram.
09-01-2024 Our EPSRC networking project (EP/Y003551/1), which has recently been granted, is featured in the Engineer Magazine - Smart Stent to warn of restenosis.
18 – 21-09 2023 Nadira will present the paper "3D Pyrolyzed Carbon Modified with g-C3N4@Ni Electrodeposit for Electrocatalytic Hydrogen Generation" at the E-MRS 2023 Fall Meeting in Warsaw, Poland.
29-05-2023 Our EPSRC ECR international collaboration grant project "Additive Micro/Nano-manufacturing of Structured Piezoelectric Active Materials for Intelligent Stent Monitoring" has just been granted!
26 – 30 June NEL will present the papers at the CLEO®/Europe-EQEC 2023 in Munich, Germany.
25-04-2023 Check out our latest publication on “Conformal CVD-grown MoS2 on Three-dimensional Woodpile Photonic Crystals for Photonic Bandgap Engineering”, ACS Applied Optical Materials.
29 May - 02 June 2023 NEL presented the papers at the E-MRS 2023 Spring Meeting in Strasbourg, France.
28-09-2022 Our joint research proposal Catalyst Award (Academia Sinica of Taiwan - Healthy Longevity Grand Challenge Competition) with Dr. Yu-Sheng Lin from Southern Taiwan University of Science and technology has just been granted.
30-08-2022 NEL presented the paper and poster at the Photon 2022 Conference in Nottingham, UK.
21-03-2022 Our Royal Society Research Grant to fund equipment has just been granted, which is for a heated microscope stage to characterise materials properties of solar thermal absorbers.
01-03-2022 NEL welcomes its new PhD student: Miss Nadira Hameed.
23-02-2022 Check out our latest publication on Strongly Confining Light with Air-Mode Cavities in Inverse Rod-Connected Diamond Photonic Crystals.
22-09-2021 NEL has a fully funded PhD position available to study Artificially Nano-structured Materials for Three-dimensional Electrodes and Catalysts.
01-09-2021 NEL welcomes its new member: Dr. Mike Taverne.
04-06-2021 NEL has a Research Fellow position available in Experimental Nanophotonics.
10-03-2021 Our EPSRC New Investigator Award project 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials has just been granted!
02-12-2019 NEL has a fully funded PhD position available to study 3D Nanophotonics in Artificially Structured Chalcogenide Materials