Skip to main content
Mikhail Kats

Mikhail Kats

Antoine-Bascom Professor
Jack St. Clair Kilby Professor

Mikhail Kats is Jack St. Clair Kilby Professor and Antoine-Bascom Professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prior to joining UW-Madison, he received his BS in Engineering Physics from Cornell University in 2008, and his PhD in Applied Physics from Harvard University in 2014.

He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed papers in the fields of optical properties of engineered materials, novel optical and optoelectronic devices, tailoring of thermal radiation and radiative heat transfer, and related topics in optics and photonics.

In addition to his primary affiliation in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, he has honorary appointments in Materials Science & Engineering and Physics, is a member of the Wisconsin Quantum Institute and the McPherson Eye Research Institute, and is Associate Director of Wisconsin CHIPS.

He is a fellow of SPIE and Optica, and his honors include the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE, 2025) and identification as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher.

Professor Mikhail Kats - Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at UW–Madison

  • PhD 2014, Harvard University
  • MS 2010, Harvard University
  • BS 2008, Cornell University

  • optics
  • photonics
  • optoelectronics
  • thermal radiation
  • nanoscale science
  • spectroscopy
  • semiconductor science
  • quantum engineering

Affiliated Departments

  • 2023 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Antoine-Bascom Associate Professorship
  • 2023 Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) , Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2023 Electrical and Computer Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Outstanding Graduate Student Mentor Award
  • 2022 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Romnes Faculty Fellow
  • 2021 Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science), Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2021 SPIE, Community Champion Award
  • 2020 Electrical and Computer Engineering, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Jack St. Clair Kilby Associate Professorship
  • 2020 Office of Naval Research (ONR), Early Career Grant
  • 2020 Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Gerald Holdridge Outstanding Instructor Award
  • 2020 IEEE Nanotechnology Council, IEEE Nanotechnology Council Early Career Award
  • 2020 National Academy of Engineering , National Academy of Engineering (NAE) Frontiers in Engineering Invitation
  • 2019 Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) , Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2019 IEEE Photonics Society, Young Investigator Award
  • 2018 Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dugald C. Jackson Faculty Scholar
  • 2018 American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE), American Society of Engineering Education (ASEE) Prism “20 Under 40”
  • 2018 Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science), Clarivate Analytics (Web of Science) Highly Cited Researcher
  • 2018 Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department Service Award
  • 2018 National Science Foundation (NSF), NSF CAREER Award
  • 2018 University of Wisconsin-Madison, Vilas Early Career Award
  • 2018 Coatings, Young Investigator Award
  • 2017 Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), Young Investigator Award
  • 2016 Optical Society of America (OSA) , Optical Society of America (OSA) Traveling Lecturer
  • 2016 Forbes, Forbes “30 under 30” in Science
  • 2016 Office of Naval Research (ONR), Young Investigator Award
  • 2015 College of Engineering, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Grainger Faculty Scholar
  • 2013 Harvard University, Harvard Graduate Society Merit Fellowship
  • 2010 National Science Foundation, Graduate Research Fellowship

  • Veeder, T., Dehzangi, A., Ramanathan, S., Kats, M., Yu, N., Hu, J., Roberts, C., Polking, M., Tibbetts, K., Majumdar, A., & others, (2024). Accelerating discovery of tunable optical materials (ATOM). In Image Sensing Technologies: Materials, Devices, Systems, and Applications XI (p. 1303002).
  • Yang, X., Mukherjee, P., Kim, M., Mei, H., Fang, C., Choi, S., Tong, Y., Perlowski, S., Czaplewski, D. A., Dibos, A. M., Kats, M. A., & Choy, J. T. (2024). Atomic magnetometry using a metasurface polarizing beamsplitter in silicon on sapphire. arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.02102.
  • Hu, M., Belliveau, E., Wu, Y., Narayanan, P., Feng, D., Hamid, R., Murrietta, N., Ahmed, G., Kats, M., & Congreve, D. (2024). Bringing the SWIR to Silicon with Upconversion Devices. Bulletin of the American Physical Society.
  • King, J., Wan, C., Park, T. J., Deshpande, S., Zhang, Z., Ramanathan, S., & Kats, M. (2024). Electrically tunable VO2-metal metasurface for mid-infrared switching, limiting and nonlinear isolation. Nature Photonics, 18(1), 74-80.
  • Siegel, J., Kim, S., Fortman, M., Wan, C., Kats, M., Hon, P. W., Sweatlock, L., Jang, M. S., & Brar, V. W. (2024). Electrostatic steering of thermal emission with active metasurface control of delocalized modes. Nature Communications, 15(1), 3376.
  • Jin, Y., & Kats, M. (2024). For passive radiative cooling, are wavelength-selective emitters the best choice?. arXiv preprint arXiv:2406.00572.
  • Zhao, B., Ren, G., Mei, H., Wu, V. C., Singh, S., Jung, G. Y., Chen, H., Giovine, R., Niu, S., Thind, A. S., Kats, M. A., & others, (2024). Giant Modulation of Refractive Index from Picoscale Atomic Displacements. Advanced Materials, 36(24), 2311559.
  • Zhao, B., Mei, H., Du, Z., Singh, S., Chang, T., Li, J., Ilyas, B., Song, Q., Liu, T., Shao, Y., Comin, R., Gedik, N., Settineri, N. S., Teat, S. J., Chen, Y., Cronin, S. B., Kats, M. A., & Ravichandran, J. (2024). Infrared Optical Anisotropy in Quasi-1D Hexagonal Chalcogenide BaTiSe3. Advanced Optical Materials, 12(19), 2400327.
  • Xiao, Y., Phuttitarn, L., Graham, T. M., Wan, C., Saffman, M., & Kats, M. (2024). Lateral beam shifts and depolarization upon oblique reflection from dielectric mirrors. Annalen der Physik, 2400028.
  • Chen, H., Singh, S., Mei, H., Ren, G., Zhao, B., Surendran, M., Wang, Y., Mishra, R., Kats, M., & Ravichandran, J. (2024). Molten flux growth of single crystals of quasi-1D hexagonal chalcogenide BaTiS3. arXiv preprint arXiv:2403.05869.

  • ECE 399 - Independent Study (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 491 - Senior Design Project (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 699 - Advanced Independent Study (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 747 - Nanophotonics (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Fall 2025)
  • PHYSICS 990 - Research (Fall 2025)
  • ECE 399 - Independent Study (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 699 - Advanced Independent Study (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 999 - Advanced Independent Study (Summer 2025)
  • PHYSICS 990 - Research (Summer 2025)
  • ECE 399 - Independent Study (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 434 - Photonics (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 611 - Introduction to Doctoral Research in Electrical & Computer Engineering (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Spring 2025)
  • PHYSICS 990 - Research (Spring 2025)
  • ECE 399 - Independent Study (Fall 2024)
  • ECE 747 - Nanophotonics (Fall 2024)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Fall 2024)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2024)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Fall 2024)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Summer 2024)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Summer 2024)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Summer 2024)
  • PHYSICS 990 - Research (Summer 2024)
  • ECE 399 - Independent Study (Spring 2024)
  • ECE 611 - Introduction to Doctoral Research in Electrical & Computer Engineering (Spring 2024)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Spring 2024)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Spring 2024)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Spring 2024)
  • ECE 219 - Analytical Methods for Electromagnetics Engineering (Fall 2023)
  • ECE 790 - Master's Research (Fall 2023)
  • ECE 890 - Pre-Dissertator's Research (Fall 2023)
  • ECE 990 - Dissertator's Research (Fall 2023)
  • PHYSICS 990 - Research (Fall 2023)