Umar Arshad is a second‑year doctoral student in the Applied Physics Program at Rice University’s Smalley‑Curl Institute, where he conducts independent research in Dr. Alessandro Alabastri’s laboratory. His project focuses on the design and optimization of photocatalytic metasurfaces driven by structured light carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). Umar’s workflow integrates:

Density Functional Theory (DFT) simulations (using Octopus and GPAW) to characterize catalyst electronic structure and hot‑electron generation rates.

Multiphysics modeling in COMSOL to capture light–matter interactions, charge transport, and thermal effects within hybrid dielectric–plasmonic architectures.

Topology‑optimization algorithms to refine metasurface geometries for maximal OAM transfer, sub‑wavelength field confinement, and selective enhancement of dipole‑forbidden molecular transitions.

Through this interdisciplinary approach, he aims to establish design principles for next‑generation photocatalytic platforms that leverage structured light to control reaction pathways.