Christian Nicolaisen Hansen - New research Assistant

POLIMA is very happy to announce that Christian Nicolaisen Hansen has started as a research assistant after having finished his bachelor’s and master’s degree in ‘Physics and Technology’ at the University of Southern Denmark, where much of his work has already been done under the supervision of POLIMA researchers. 

Christian's bachelor’s thesis was performed under the supervision of Prof. Christos Tserkezis and Dr. P. Elli Stamatopoulou, where he did analytical work on Mie-resonant systems; investigating the role of non-local effects of plasmonic materials when strongly coupled to excitonic materials, obtained by forming nanoparticles of multiple layers. His master’s thesis was performed under the supervision of Prof. Christos Tserkezis and Dr. Line Jelver, where he investigated the excitonic response of single-layer hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) in the ultraviolet regime. Tuning of the optical response was analytically investigated by patterning hBN in spherical geometries and nanoribbons and by placing a periodic electric potential across a planar hBN layer. 

Christian’s research will, under the supervision of Prof. Joel Cox, focus on the physics of image polaritons formed in atomically thin crystals such as graphene interfacing highly conducting materials like metals. Polaritons—quasiparticles formed by the hybridization of light with collective excitations in matter—can focus light far beyond conventional optical limits, enabling new directions for advanced photonic technologies. The project will investigate diverse geometrical and material configurations to address how to generate and engineer image polaritons and how nonlocal and quantum mechanical effects influence their behavior. A theoretical approach, supported by powerful computational simulation frameworks, will allow systematic exploration of how geometrical and quantum effects govern nanoscale light—matter interactions. The goal of this work is to advance fundamental research in nanophotonics based on emerging atomically thin materials.