Seminar 25 – S4, Tuesday 25 June 2024, 14:00 (London Time)
Speaker: Riccardo Sapienza (Physics Department, Imperial College London, UK)
Title: Time-varying metamaterials for light
Abstract: Metamaterials have revolutionised the way we control light transport and generation. Yet, to date, they rely on static and passive architectures, only redistributing incident wave energy – for example in a metalens, or a cloak – with no power to locally absorb or produce it to enhance responses. Here I will discuss our first steps towards driven photonic systems, able to convert energy to function and perform actions.
I will report on double-slit time diffraction at optical frequencies in time-varying metamaterials [1] and how we can extend the modulation of the linear refractive index to the modulation of the nonlinear response [2].
Moreover, I will discuss how time-modulation can lead to new optical phenomena.
.
Biography: Riccardo Sapienza is Professor of Physics in Imperial College London, and deputy Head of Department for Research. He investigates light in nanoscale architectures and metamaterials. He is the director of the Centre for Plasmonics and Metamaterials. He joined Imperial College London as Reader in 2017 from King’s College London where he held a lectureship since 2012. Before that, his passion for optics has taken him to the Laboratories for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS) – Italy, the institute of material science (ICMM), the institute of photonic science (ICFO) – Spain, and the École Normal Supérieure (ENS) – France.