Optical Metamaterials
Optical metamaterials are artificially engineered materials that exhibit extraordinary optical properties not typically found in nature. These materials are generally composed of unit cells smaller than the wavelength of the light they interact with, which, for light in the visible and near-infrared spectrum, requires structuring materials at nanometer scales. Metasurfaces—the two-dimensional counterpart to metamaterials—offer similar functionality but are often simpler to fabricate, enabling powerful manipulation of light with greater design flexibility.
Over the past decades, tremendous progress has been made in developing metamaterials with diverse characteristics, including negative refractive indices, tunable optical responses, and enhanced light-matter interactions. These advances have paved the way for applications ranging from invisibility cloaks to super-resolution imaging.
Our research focuses on creating optical materials with highly resonant behaviors. Consequently, these materials show strong interaction with light, exhibit enhanced nonlinearity and are highly sensitive to changes in their dielectric environment. Specifically, we aim to develop new materials for active light modulation as well as for advanced sensing and detection applications.
Relevant references: