Harry Atwater

Harry Albert Atwater, Jr. is an American physicist and materials scientist and is the Otis Booth Leadership Chair of the division of engineering and applied science at the California Institute of Technology. Currently he is the Howard Hughes Professor of Applied Physics and Materials Science and the director for the Liquid Sunlight Alliance (LiSA), a Department of Energy Hub program for solar fuels.  Atwater's scientific effort focuses on nanophotonic light-matter interactions and solar energy conversion.  His current research in energy centers on high efficiency photovoltaics, carbon capture and removal, and photoelectrochemical processes for generation of solar fuels. His research has resulted in world records for solar photovoltaic conversion and photoelectrochemical water splitting. His work also spans fundamental nanophotonic phenomena, in plasmonics and 2D materials, and also applications including active metasurfaces and optical propulsion.  

From 2014 to 2020, Atwater served as director of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (JCAP), the DOE Energy Innovation Hub for solar fuels.   Atwater was an early pioneer in nanophotonics and plasmonics; he gave the name to the field of plasmonics in 2001.  Atwater is a Member of US National Academy of Engineering, and a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher.  He is also founder of 5 early-stage companies, including Captura, which is developing scalable approaches to carbon dioxide removal from oceanwater, and Alta Devices, which set world records for photovoltaic cell and module efficiency. He is also a Fellow of the SPIE as well as APS, MRS, Optica, and the National Academy of Inventors. He is also the founding editor in chief of the journal ACS Photonics, and chair of the LightSail Committee for the Breakthrough Starshot program. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2021 von Hippel Award of the Materials Research Society.