Optical elements, like lenses, filters and prisms are commonly used to steer and manipulate light. However, their bulky and heavy form puts major limitations on their applicability in novel applications where size and weight are crucial, including wearable devices, optical communications, and satelites. Building on the advent of nanotechnology, new optical coatings have been developed that perform identical and even more complex optical functions using ultra-thin and light-weight nanostructured optical coatings. Such “metasurfaces” are already revolutinizing the photonics industry, yet a crucial challenge remains. After nanofabrication, the optical function of metasurfaces is fixed, defined by the nanoscale geometry of the constitutent building blocks. At the same time, new applications demand active and dynamic optical elements where the multiple optical functions can be combined in a single design, and their function can be tuned electronically.
In ExMAM we combine these metasurfaces with novel 2D quantum materials that exhibit the remarkable property that their refractive index can be tuned electrostatically. By combining their complementary strengths, we will: (i) study the electrically-tunabale light-matter interaction; (ii) achieve highly efficient tunable metasurfaces; (iii) stack these surfaces to combine them into multifunctional flat optics. The results of this project will offer new insights into the physics of light-matter interaction of quantum materials, as well as enable new optoelectronic devices.
