Descripción del proyecto
Materiales ópticos artificiales inspirados en metasuperficies para la conversión óptica de frecuencias
La conversión de frecuencias mediante óptica no lineal, la conversión de luz entrante en luz de otras frecuencias aprovechando no linealidades ópticas, permite generar luz en todo el espectro electromagnético. Este proceso resulta muy valioso en numerosas aplicaciones. Sin embargo, se basa en cristales no lineales masivos, lo que impide la miniaturización e integración en los dispositivos futuros, cada vez más compactos y con menor consumo energético. Sobre la base de la inspiración de las metasuperficies no lineales desarrolladas recientemente, el proyecto 3D NOAM, financiado con fondos europeos, desarrollará un nuevo material óptico no lineal de nanoingeniería tridimensional. El equipo del proyecto también desarrollará la tecnología de nanofabricación necesaria para contribuir a la ampliación de la producción del material y su comercialización.
Objetivo
Optical frequency conversion in bulk nonlinear crystals is used for generation of coherent light over the entire optical regime from extreme ultra-violet up to THz waves. This remarkable ability is at the core of a plethora of important technological and scientific applications. However, bulk nonlinear crystals pose strong limitations on integration, miniaturization, and control over the nonlinear interactions, holding back the further progress of optical frequency conversion technologies.
I propose to lead a great breakthrough in the field by developing a new kind of 3D nano-engineered nonlinear optical artificial materials with superior nonlinear optical properties, and free of the limitations of bulk nonlinear crystals. These materials will be inspired by recently developed nonlinear metasurfaces. It was demonstrated that nonlinear metasurfaces exhibit unprecedented nonlinear functionalities, and effective nonlinearities exceeding by far those of bulk nonlinear crystals, promising to replace bulk crystals in future nonlinear optical technologies. However, their two-dimensional designs and nanoscale thickness strongly limit their frequency conversion efficiency, with no existing practical nanofabrication approach nor theoretical proposition to overcome this limitation. Our research aims to close this gap. We will develop a new nanofabrication methodology that will allow to stack hundreds of nonlinear metasurfaces into a 3D nonlinear material in a technologically viable way. We will study new fundamental nonlinear interactions in these novel nonlinear materials, and demonstrate experimentally their superiority over bulk nonlinear crystals in conversion efficiency and functionalities. These achievements will potentially pave the way to the next era of nonlinear optical frequency conversion technologies. They will also immediately impact applications of 3D nanostructured optical materials in general, as well as may change the way we think about 3D nanofabrication.
Ámbito científico
Palabras clave
Programa(s)
- HORIZON.1.1 - European Research Council (ERC) Main Programme
Régimen de financiación
HORIZON-ERC - HORIZON ERC GrantsInstitución de acogida
69978 Tel Aviv
Israel