MembersPunnag Padhy

I am interested in designing new physical tools based on the principles of light-matter interaction that could revolutionize the study of chemical and biological processes and systems. On the other hand, understanding and mimicking the intricate physical processes in biological systems to address challenges in information storage, material science and environment also excites me. Currently, I am working on building a high efficiency, density and fidelity metasurface platform for the synthesis of long single stranded DNA.

• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, and J. A. Dionne*, Temperature bandgaps and thermal dopants arising from photothermal nonlinearities in high-Q silicon metasurfaces, arXiv 2511.12038 (2025). [Article]
• M. Wu*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, P. Padhy, W. Ren, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Light-orchestrated multi-step solid-phase picodroplet reactors, bioRxiv 10.1101/2025.06.23.660884 (2025). [Article]
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, Y. T. Cheng, Y. Huang, M. Wu, L. Galambos, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Dielectrophoretic bead-droplet reactor for solid-phase synthesis, Nat. Comm. 15, 1, 6159 (2024). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, W. Ren, M. Wu, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Topological visualization of the plasmonic resonance of a nano C-aperture, Appl. Phys. Lett. 122, 8, 081107 (2023). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, M. Wu, W. Ren, M. A. Jensen, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Controlled transport of individual microparticles using dielectrophoresis, Langmuir 39, 101 (2022). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, M. Wu, P. Padhy, M. A. Jensen, L. Hesselink, and R. W. Davis, Modelling brownian microparticle trajectories in lab-on-a-chip devices with time varying dielectrophoretic or optical forces, Micromachines 12, 10, 1265 (2021). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, W. Ren, M. Wu, and L. Hesselink, Microparticle transport along a planar electrode array using moving dielectrophoresis, J. Appl. Phys 130, 3, 034902 (2021). [Article]
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, and L. Hesselink, Dynamically controlled dielectrophoresis using resonant tuning, Electrophoresis 42, 9-10, 1079 (2021). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, Y. T. Cheng, L. Galambos, and L. Hesselink, Optoelectronic tweezers with a non-uniform background field, Appl. Phys. Lett. 117, 17, 171102 (2020). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Fokker-Planck analysis of optical near-field traps, Sci. Rep. 9, 9557 (2019). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Solenoidal optical forces from a plasmonic Archimedean spiral, Phys. Rev. A 100, 1, 013857 (2019). [Article]
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, and L. Hesselink, In-plane near-field optical barrier on a chip, Opt. Lett. 44, 8, 2061 (2019). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Near-field optical trapping in a non-conservative force field, Sci. Rep. 9, 649 (2019). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, P. C. Hansen, and L. Hesselink, Extracting the potential-well of a near-field optical trap using the Helmholtz-Hodge decomposition, Appl. Phys. Lett. 112, 9, 091103 (2018). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, A semi-analytical model of a near-field optical trapping potential well, J. Appl. Phys 122, 16, 163101 (2017). [Article]
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, P. C. Hansen, and L. Hesselink, On the substrate contribution to the back action trapping of plasmonic nanoparticles on resonant near-field traps in plasmonic films, Opt. Exp. 25, 21, 26198 (2017). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Capturing range of a near-field optical trap, Phys. Rev. A 96, 4, 043825 (2017). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. Padhy, P. C. Hansen, and L. Hesselink, Dielectrophoresis-assisted plasmonic trapping of dielectric nanoparticles, Phys. Rev. A 95, 2, 023840 (2017). [Article]
• M. A. Zaman*, P. C. Hansen, L. T. Neustock, P. Padhy, and L. Hesselink, Adjoint method for estimating Jiles-Atherton hysteresis model parameters, J. Appl. Phys. 120, 9, 093903 (2016). [Article]
• P. Padhy*, P. K. Sahu, and R. Jha, Metal wire waveguide based all plasmonic refractive index sensor for terahertz frequencies, Sens. Act. B 225, 115 (2016). [Article]
• T. Srivastava, R. Das, P. Padhy, and R. Jha*, THz mode-coupling in photonic-crystal-surface-plasmon-coupled waveguides, Appl. Phys. B 118, 3, 387 (2015). [Article]
• P. K. Maharana, R. Jha*, and P. Padhy, On the electric field enhancement and performance of SPR gas sensor based on graphene for visible and near infrared, Sens. Act. B 207, 117 (2015). [Article]
• P. K. Maharana, P. Padhy, and R. Jha*, On the field enhancement and performance of an ultra-stable SPRbiosensor based on graphene, IEEE Photon. Technol. Lett. 25, 22, 2156 (2013). [Article]

• P. Padhy*, V. Dolia, D. Omo-Lamai, M. A. Jensen, R. W. Davis, and J. Dionne, Resonant nonlinear photothermal heating using high-Q silicon metasurfaces for solid-phase DNA synthesis, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, Nov 30 – Dec 5, 2025 (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, V. Dolia, S. Dagli, H. C. Delgado, S. Abdollahramezani, B. Ogunlade, K. Chang, H. Balch, M. A. Jensen, Y. A. Zhang, R. W. Davis, and J. Dionne, Solid-phase DNA synthesis using high-Q metasurface, Materials Research Society Fall Meeting, Boston, MA, Dec 1-6, 2024 (Oral).
• Y. A. Zhang*, L. Herndon, P. Padhy, A. Al-Zubeidi, B. Ogunlade, A. Stiber, A. Boehm, and J. Dionne, Integrating Electrokinetics with AI-Assisted Raman Spectroscopy for Bacterial Detection in Wastewater, Electrochemical Society Meeting PRiME, Honolulu, Hi, Oct 6-11, 2024 (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, V. Dolia, H. C. Delgado, S. Abdollahramezani, S. Dagli, B. Ogunlade, K. Chang, H. Balch, M. A. Jensen, Y. A. Zhang, R. W. Davis, and J. Dionne, Solid-phase DNA synthesis for synthetic biology using high-Q metasurface, Gordon Research Conference and Seminar for Plasmonics and Nanophotonics, Newry, ME, Jul 5-12, 2024 (Poster).
• Y. A. Zhang*, L. Herndon, P. Padhy, B. Ogunlade, A. Boehm, and J. Dionne, Electrokinetics with Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy for Bacterial Identification in Wastewater, Electrochemical Society Meeting 245, San Francisco, CA, May 26-30, 2024 (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, Y. T. Cheng, Y. Huang, L. Galambos, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Novel bead-droplet platform for solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis, ACS Fall Meeting, San Francisco, CA, Aug 13-17, 2023; American Chemical Society (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, Y. Cheng, L. Galambos, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Bead encapsulation and ejection from droplet for solid-phase synthesis, APS March Meeting, Las Vegas, NV, Mar 5-10, 2023; American Physical Society (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, M. Wu, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Ultra-high fidelity oligonucleotide synthesis on individual solid supports, Stanford System X Fall Conference, Stanford, CA, Nov 8-11, 2021; Stanford System X Alliance (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, and L. Hesselink, Dynamic modulation of dielectrophoretic force using resonant feedback, APS March Meeting, Mar 15-19, 2021; American Physical Society (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, M. A. Zaman, M. A. Jensen, M. Wu, R. W. Davis, and L. Hesselink, Ultra-high fidelity oligonucleotide synthesis on individual solid supports, Stanford System X Fall Conference, Stanford, CA, Oct. 21 – Nov. 11, 2020; Stanford System X Alliance (Oral).
• M. A. Jensen*, and P. Padhy*, On-chip oligonucleotide synthesis using dielectrophoretic traps, Advanced Genome Technology Development Meeting, Boston, MA, May 30 – Jun 1, 2018; National Human Genome Research Institute (Oral).
• P. Padhy*, P. Hansen, J. Ryan, M. A. Zaman, T. W. Huang, and L. Hesselink, Effect of substrate in optical trapping of metallic nanoparticle on nano apertures and engravings, Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics (CLEO), San Jose, CA, Jun 5-10, 2016; Optical Society of America (Poster).

• P. Padhy, J. Dionne, Devices and methods involving metasurface oligonucleotide synthesis, PCT/US2025/034220, Jun. 18, 2025 (PCT Filed).
• L. Hesselink, P. Padhy, M. A. Zaman, R. W. Davis, and M. A. Jensen, Methods of engulfing particles and devices for praticing same, U.S. 18/141,179, Apr. 28, 2023 (U.S. Patent Pending). [Link]