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Associate Professor of Engineering, Associate Professor of Physics

Overview

Domenico Pacifici is an Associate Professor of Engineering and Physics at Brown University, with joint appointments in the School of Engineering and the Department of Physics. His research focuses on nanophotonics, plasmonics, quantum optics, optical coherence, semiconductor nanostructures, optoelectronic materials, and micro/nanofabrication-enabled devices.

His research group develops experimental platforms and nanostructured materials for studying light-matter interaction, photonic and optoelectronic devices, optical coherence, biosensing, and energy-related systems. The Pacifici Group has pioneered the field of plasmonic interferometry and has contributed to the development of nanoscale optical interferometers, plasmonic biochemical sensors, semiconductor quantum-dot photodetectors, and nanostructured materials for light harvesting and optical detection.

From 2016 to 2026, Professor Pacifici served as Director of Brown University's Nanofabrication Central Facility, supporting micro- and nanofabrication research across the Brown research community. In this role, he oversaw facility operations, user training, safety and compliance coordination, equipment planning, vendor/service coordination, tool commissioning, SOP development, process documentation, and research infrastructure continuity.

Through this service, he developed extensive experience in cleanroom operations, chemical and hazardous waste procedures, gas and vacuum systems, equipment troubleshooting, shared research facility management, semiconductor workforce development, and training of graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, staff, faculty users, and external users in micro- and nanofabrication workflows. He also coordinated the search process for a senior technical facility position and developed extensive technical, operational, and administrative documentation to preserve NCF institutional knowledge and support future staff onboarding and leadership transitions.

Pacifici has received a Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Award, three Brown Research Seed Awards, a Dedicated Faculty Award from Brown's School of Engineering and Tau Beta Pi, and a Henry Merritt Wriston Fellowship for his contributions to excellence in teaching and for his devotion to the intellectual development of graduate and undergraduate students.

His research has been supported by the National Science Foundation, the Office of Naval Research, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, and Brown University internal research programs. His work has appeared in journals including Nature Photonics, Science Advances, Scientific Reports, Nano Letters, Applied Physics Letters, ACS Photonics, and the Journal of Applied Physics.

Pacifici is deeply committed to teaching and mentorship. He has developed and taught courses in Introduction to Engineering, Electricity and Magnetism, Quantum Optics, Semiconductor Device Fabrication, Solid State Quantum and Optoelectronics, Optical Coherence, and Photovoltaics Engineering at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He mentors graduate, undergraduate, and postdoctoral researchers in interdisciplinary projects spanning engineering, physics, optics, materials science, and nanofabrication.

 

Selected Publications:

  • Plasmonic interferometers as TREM2 sensors for Alzheimer's disease, Dingdong Li, Rachel Odessey, Dongfang Li, and D. Pacifici, Biosensors 11 (7), 217 (2021)
  • Revisiting the photon-drag effect in metal films, J. H. Strait, G. Holland, W. Zhu, C. Zhang, A. Agrawal, D. Pacifici, and H. J. Lezec, Physical Review Letters 123, 053903 (2019). 
  • Strong Amplitude and Phase Modulation of Optical Spatial Coherence with Surface Plasmon Polaritons, D. Li, and D. Pacifici, Science Advances 3 (10), e1700133 (2017).
  • Measuring subwavelength spatial coherence with plasmonic interferometry, D. Morrill, D. Li, and D. Pacifici, Nature Photonics 10, 681–687 (2016).
  • Nanoscale optical interferometry with incoherent light, D. Li, J. Feng, D. Pacifici, Scientific Reports 6, 20836 (2016).
  • Noise performance of high-efficiency germanium quantum dot photodetectors, S. Siontas, P. Liu, A. Zaslavsky, D. Pacifici, Applied Physics Letters 109 (5), 053508 (2016).
  • A spectroscopic refractometer based on plasmonic interferometry, J. Feng, D. Pacifici, Journal of Applied Physics 119 (8), 083104 (2016).
  • Nanoscale plasmonic interferometers for multispectral, high-throughput biochemical sensing, J. Feng, V. Siu, A. Roelke, V. Mehta, S. Rhieu, G.T.R. Palmore, and D. Pacifici, Nano Letters 12, 602–609 (2012).
  • All-optical modulation by plasmonic excitation of CdSe quantum dots, D. Pacifici, H. J. Lezec, H. A. Atwater, Nature Photonics 1, 402–406 (2007).

 

Education and Training:

Pacifici joined Brown University in 2009 as an Assistant Professor in the School of Engineering. He received his M.Sc. in Physics in 2000 and his Ph.D. in Physics in 2004, both summa cum laude, from the University of Catania in Italy. His doctoral research focused on the optical, structural, and electrical properties of silicon quantum dots and their interaction with rare-earth ions for silicon-based microphotonics.

In 2004, he received an award from STMicroelectronics for the best Ph.D. thesis performed in collaboration with industry. Prior to joining Brown, Pacifici was a postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Applied Physics at the California Institute of Technology, where he worked on plasmonics, nanophotonics, and nanostructured materials for information and energy applications.

 

Research Activities:

Pacifici and his research group conduct research on nanostructured materials and devices for manipulating light, matter, and surface plasmons at the nanoscale. Current and recent research directions include plasmonic interferometry, optical coherence measurements, quantum and semiconductor photodetectors, germanium quantum wells and quantum dots, nanostructured photovoltaics, biosensing platforms, and micro/nanofabrication-enabled optoelectronic devices.

Representative research accomplishments include:

(1) plasmonic concentrators for broadband enhanced absorption in ultra-thin-film solar cells;

(2) germanium quantum-dot photodetectors with high responsivity and internal quantum efficiency;

(3) high-throughput biochemical sensors using on-chip plasmonic interferometers for detection of glucose, insulin, and other biomarkers;

(4) plasmonic interferometry for refractive-index and dispersion measurements;

(5) measurement of subwavelength spatial coherence with plasmonic interferometers;

(6) modulation of fluorescence emission through nanoapertures for sensing applications;

(7) nanoimprinted silicon nanowire solar cells with high internal quantum efficiency;

(8) optical characterization of amorphous germanium quantum wells and related semiconductor nanostructures;

(9) development of optical coherence and interferometric measurement platforms for broadband source characterization and photodetector studies.

Brown Affiliations

Research Areas

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