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Twistoptics: Manipulating Light-Matter Interactions at the Nanoscale with Twisted van der Waals Materials

Project description

Quantum ‘twistoptics’ harnesses stacks of twisted layers of van der Waals materials

Twistronics is an emerging field exploiting the stacking and twisting of different 2D materials to change their electrical properties. The ambitious European Research Council-funded TWISTOPTICS project will break new ground in the field of ‘twistoptics’, which harnesses stacks of twisted layers of van der Waals materials. These materials have exotic properties including strong in-plane anisotropy or directionally dependent light propagation (not uniform in all directions) that can be steered by stacking and twisting two slabs of a vdW material. The team will develop a technological platform for the active manipulation of nanolight, and use it to design and fabricate functional nanodevices, opening up the field of quantum twistoptics.

Objective

Van der Waals (vdW) materials are ideal platforms to host light at the nanoscale (nanolight) with unprecedented properties such as strong in-plane anisotropy, arbitrarily large momenta and high density of optical states, opening the door to develop planar optical nanodevices compatible with current on-chip technologies. Remarkably, the in-plane anisotropic propagation of nanolight can be steered by stacking two slabs of a vdW material rotated with respect to each other, resulting, for example, in canalization along one specific direction. Inspired by this breakthrough in nano-optics, which extends the exciting prospects of twistronics to the optics realm, this ERC project aims to develop the field of Twistoptics, where stacks of twisted layers of vdW materials enable unprecedented active control of light and light-matter interactions at the nanoscale. In a first stage, we will carry out a study of the most fundamental optical phenomena in Twistoptics - reflection and refraction of nanolight in twisted vdW structures-, and develop a technological platform that will enable active manipulation of nanolight via strain fields. In a second stage, we will make use of this knowledge and technological capabilities to design and fabricate functional nanodevices to explore directional strong coupling between nanolight and molecular vibrations, as well as inter-subband transitions in 2D semiconductors -in order to develop quantum Twistoptics. This proposal envisions the modification of material properties and dynamics at the nanoscale and the realization of efficient and compact sources of IR radiation and polaritons working at room temperature. These fundamental scientific advances will be of enormous relevance for the development of new nanotechnologies that will have a broad impact in various fields, such as molecular nano-sensing, quantum nanosciences, or nano-chemistry, where active control of fundamental light-matter processes at the nanoscale is of vital importance.

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Topic(s)

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HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC Grants

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Call for proposal

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(opens in new window) ERC-2021-COG

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Host institution

UNIVERSIDAD DE OVIEDO
Net EU contribution

Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.

€ 1 999 500,00
Address
CALLE SAN FRANCISCO 3
33003 OVIEDO
Spain

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Region
Noroeste Principado de Asturias Asturias
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
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Total cost

The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.

€ 1 999 500,00

Beneficiaries (1)

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