Externally funded current research projects
Research activities of our Centre for Nano Optics comprise fundamental studies of linear and nonlinear light-matter interactions at the nanoscale, often involving surface plasmon excitations and single-photon generation, and investigations of practical applications of the latest advances in the corresponding fields that include plasmonics and quantum nanophotonics.
Current research projects at SDU Nano Optics
Quantum Metasurface: A Novel Platform for Generating and Manipulating Single Photons (Villum Young Investigator) project by Fei Ding aims to develop a novel quantum metasurface platform for generating and manipulating single photons at room temperature by integrating quantum emitters based on nano-diamonds containing color centers with optical metasurfaces. In-depth investigations of the quantum metasurface platform concentrate on two interrelated and largely unexplored research areas within quantum nanophotonics: efficient on-demand generation of single photons with arbitrary wavefronts and realization of robust on-chip sources of entangled photons.
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Room-Temperature Generation of Indistinguishable Single Photons (Villum Experiment) project by Shailesh Kumar concerns the emission-rate of a special quantum emitter (Group IV color center in a nanodiamond, which interacts less with phonons due to its position in the lattice) that should be enhanced by utilizing a combination of a gap-plasmonic structure with ultra-small gaps (<2nm) and a dielectric cavity. This combination should provide us with the necessary enhancement in emission rate to make it larger than its rate of interaction with phonons at room temperature.
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Making a single photon capable of detecting a single molecule (Villum Experiment) project by Volodymir Zenin concerns the development of a novel multilayer platform that would enable the generation of extraordinary plasmons with wavelengths that are small enough to interact with nanometer-sized objects. The project aims at the first ever experimental proof-of-principle demonstration of extraordinary plasmons with a record-high confinement factor of >250, record-breaking results that could pave the way for future high-performing optoelectronic devices, including biosensor chips with an unprecedented sensitivity down to a single molecule.
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Tunable vortex lasers triggered by dynamic metasurfaces (Villum Experiment) project by Chao Meng concerns the demonstration of a scalable technology platform for developing reconfigurable vortex lasers by integrating dynamic metasurface within an intracavity framework with potential applications in intelligent optical imaging and computing/communication systems. The key impact of this research will be to provide a stepping-stone towards versatile adaptive lasers with cost-effective and compactness, which will contribute to next-generation intelligent opto-electric systems and networks.
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Electrically-driven tunable phase-change metasurfaces (Inge Lehmann DFF-Research) project by Fei Ding aims at extending our current research on metasurfaces to embark on an emerging area of electrically-driven tunable phase-change metasurfaces with independent phase and amplitude control for active wavefront shaping at telecom wavelengths. The project hinges on exploring the electromagnetic design freedom enabled by optical metasurfaces and excellent properties of phase-change chalcogenides, representing thereby an important step towards the development of tunable metasurfaces and opening new possibilities for the next generation of intelligent photonics.
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Advanced Single-Photon Sources Based on On-Chip Hybrid Plasmon-Emitter Coupled Metasurfaces (Marie S.-Curie Individual Fellowship) by Yinhui Kan targets the development of single-photon sources for quantum technologies, including quantum communications, quantum computation, and quantum-enhanced metrology, by exploiting the near-field coupling approaches that rely on the nonradiative quantum emitter interactions with surrounding nanostructures, thus enabling a direct and efficient control of the its far-field emission with highly compact configurations. The project is based on the use of hybrid plasmon-emitter coupled metasurfaces suitable for generation of well-collimated beams of photons with desirable polarization characteristics propagating along given directions.
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2D Material Light Sources for Plasmonic Waveguides (Carlsberg Foundation Reintegration Fellowship) by Christian Frydendahl aims at establishing the connection between integrated optics and the outside world, which is the biggest challenge for widespread commercialization and adoption of photonic integrated chips (PICs), by making direct, on-chip, light sources for PIC. The project targets the integration of 2D semiconductor transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) with metallic plasmonic channel waveguides (PCWGs) to act as direct on-chip light sources, thereby enabling this new and potentially extremely efficient technology.
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Adaptive metamaterials for smart standalone histopathology with polarized light (EU ATTRACT Phase 2 research project) in partnership with Oulu University and SINTEF Digital aims to realize a radically new diagnostic modality for stand-alone sensing and quantitative characterization of biological tissues by utilizing a novel platform for breakthrough optical systems relying on adaptive metamaterial-based optics for visible light. This will be an important step towards a miniaturized and automated digital histopathology diagnostic tool that can be used in real-time for detection of cancer, Alzheimer and other chronic diseases.
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