Extreme Nonlinear Metamaterials Based on Novel Hybrid Light-Matter States

ABSTRACT

Nanophotonics holds promise for realizing compact devices that can address global challenges such as energy-efficient communication, space exploration, and clean energy sources. At the nanoscale, the electromagnetic energy of light is squeezed to dimensions much smaller than the wavelength, leading to enhanced interaction with matter. In particular, nonlinear optical interactions greatly benefit from this extreme light confinement. Several subwavelength nonlinear materials, also known as nonlinear metasurfaces, have been shown to capitalize on the enhanced near-field. The possibility of these materials being integrated into devices will enable various applications ranging from imaging to holography and communications.

Despite these promises, efficiency and tunability issues can hinder integrating nonlinear metasurfaces into compact devices. In this talk, I will discuss our recent results in developing efficient, broadband, and widely tunable nonlinear metasurfaces based on novel hybrid light-matter states. The talk will focus on two systems: 1) hybrid states of gold and graphene plasmons and 2) hybrid states of excitons in two-dimensional semiconductors and plasmons in metals. On the one hand, hybrid states enable broadband operation and improve efficiency. On the other hand, employing two-dimensional materials as a platform provides wide tunability due to the unique properties of these emergent materials. Pushing the limits of nonlinear light-matter interaction will lead to a new class of ultrathin electro-optical photonic metadevices that can simultaneously generate and control light.

BIOGRAPHY

Euclides Almeida is an Assistant Professor of Physics at Queens College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, where he leads the Nanophotonics Group. He received his D.Sc. in Physics from the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil, in 2012 and conducted postdoctoral research at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel from 2012 to 2017. His research lies at the intersection of nanophotonics, nonlinear optics, and metasurfaces, with an emphasis on engineering light–matter interactions in low-dimensional materials. His group develops nonlinear and dynamically reconfigurable photonic platforms based on two-dimensional semiconductors, with applications in integrated photonics, optical information processing, and next-generation photonic and quantum technologies.